Blessed be the Quirkless
by Logar3
Summary: Izuku Midoriya died. But that wasn't the end. With a new power and a new friend, he's gonna take Belzerg by storm.
1. New Beginnings

Izuku really didn't have the best life.

That much was obvious, maybe even an understatement. Quirkless, physically weak, a huge hero nerd, or just a nerd in general, bullied and rejected by almost everyone he knew, his life really sucked.

Ever since that day when he was diagnosed as Quirkless, his life had spiralled downwards. His best friend, Bakugou Katsuki, or Kachaan, as he called him, had taken to using his '_Explosion_' Quirk on him as '_practice_'.

Apparently, that was '_all he was good for_' as a '_Quirkless wannabe_'. For almost a decade, Izuku had the idea that he couldn't be a hero drilled into him by everyone in his life.

But today had been the worst day for a while. His teacher had revealed to his class that he had applied for UA, and Kachaan was not happy about it.

Izuku still thought that the teacher did it on purpose. Over his entire life, he had 3 teachers who were actually good to him. Seeing as he shifted classes almost every year, they were definitely the exception, not the rule.

And it was all because of his damn Quirklessness. He wouldn't even mind having a minor or weak Quirk at this point. That would put him on par with classmates at least.

Kachaan would probably still make fun of him for having a weak Quirk, but at least he would be thought of as a _Human_. Not just some worthless relic from an earlier time.

Izuku wasn't the happiest person around. With all the bullying and constant abuse, the only lights in his life were his Mum, All Might, and his Hero Notebooks.

So when Kachaan had threatened him not to go to UA, burned his most recent notebook, #14, and then threw it into the pond outside, it was a real blow to him.

He had managed to salvage the notebook, it wasn't in too bad of a condition when he found it. Some drying and TLC would bring it back to usable condition again.

_Unfortunately for him_, he wouldn't be able to go home to give it such a treatment. But what he _would_ be given, was a new opportunity, one that would change his future entirely…

There was just _one teeny-tiny thing he had to do first_.

* * *

It started on his walk home.

He was getting this weird feeling like someone was watching him, but he couldn't spot anyone. It was weird. Normally he would probably feel paranoid about such a feeling, but he wasn't?

It was confusing.

He saw on his phone that there had been an accident on his usual way home. He turned down a different street and eventually came to an underpass.

"I can't let what they say get to me! Just because there hasn't been a Quirkless Hero before, doesn't mean I can't be the first one! I'll just have to keep my head up and smile, like All Might!"

As he lifted his chin and put a smile on his face, he started walking through the underpass, imitating All Might's laughter. It was because of this that he didn't hear the manhole beneath him moving.

He was still a bit distracted when a gurgling voice appeared behind him. "Ah, look at this! One small sized skin-suit for me to disappear into! Stay still kid!"

Izuku had turned around to see a giant pile of goo in front of him, eyes looking over him as it rushed towards him, grabbing him and surrounding him.

As he struggled against the villain, because he was now sure it was a villain, not just some unlucky person with a mutation Quirk, he felt something enter his mouth.

"Sit tight kid, this will only hurt for about 45 seconds. I'm going to take over your body and use it to hide from _**HIM**_. You're my hero kid."

Izuku started panicking at that, willing for a hero to come to his aid, for anyone to come to help him. He struggled and struggled, screaming both mentally and out loud as his limbs started moving even when he couldn't move them.

"Hmm, seems like I'm safe for now! I wonder what kind of Quirk you have, kid, I might need to be able to use it if I have to fight All Might after all…"

Izuku's vision went to black. He was almost laughing on the inside because of that last comment. Izuku's weak, Quirkless body would just get the villain captured once All Might arrived.

Just before he lost consciousness, he felt his body move and heard a rush of air from the manhole. He felt it stand up and face the noise, only to punch the wall beside him in what he assumed was anger.

He couldn't see it, but he could feel that All Might had arrived. The rumbling of footsteps proved that to Izuku.

All Might was only a few seconds too late, but it was enough. He quickly grabbed Izuku's body, now controlled by the sludge villain, and jumped off towards the nearest police station.

He was forced to watch as the last of the sludge went down Izuku's throat, unknowingly losing his perfect successor forever.

* * *

It was dark when he opened his eyes again, the only thing in sight the chair in front of him.

Although, there was also the absolutely _**stunning**_ blue-haired girl currently sleeping soundly on it, hugging an unmarked bottle. Izuku was extremely confused with this whole situation.

He was fairly certain he was dead, the sludge villain that had attacked him had made sure of that, although this could just be one big prank, lord knows plenty of people target him for things like this.

He realised that he should probably be in pain right now, or panicking, but something about this space calmed him, soothed him.

Without anything else to do, he stayed sitting in his chair, silent, letting the blue-haired girl sleep. It would be rude to wake her up after all, and Inko raised a very polite boy.

So he waited, and waited, and waited. After waiting some more, he pulled out his phone from his bag to discover he had no wifi. That was fine, he expected that. That either meant he _really was dead_, or that the pranksters were very thorough.

He played some games on his phone as he waited. He couldn't get GPS coordinates for his location, and he couldn't connect to the internet, even using his data.

All of this just made him more and more sure that he was dead. But why was he here? Why did he have all of his school stuff with him? Is it because he died in it?

Eventually, he got out of his chair and started looking around. He walked as far away from the chairs as he could until he eventually reached an invisible wall. It felt soft, like rubber, but no matter how much he pushed, it didn't budge.

Although that could just be because he's a super skinny twig.

Eventually, he started getting sleepy as well. Watching the girl in front of him sleep, as well as seeing that he had been here for over 3 hours at this point had notified his body on how tired it was after getting attacked.

So he placed his bag on the ground, laid down and placed his head on it, and went to sleep. Hopefully, it wasn't rude to do so wherever he was. '_Well, if she's doing it, why can't I?'_

Eventually, he did fall asleep, unaware of what would happen when he woke up.

* * *

"Yo! Izuku Midoriya! You can't sleep here! Wake up!"

He woke up in a start, his dreams having being filled with his crying mother, a laughing Kachaan, and the image of All Might punching his body now that it was under the villain's control.

He quickly sat up and rubbed his eyes, briefly forgetting where he was. After it came back to him, he looked over to his right to see the beautiful blue-haired girl that had been sleeping when he got here moving back to her chair, and sitting down.

He quickly stood up and bowed to her. He had never _really_ talked to a girl before, outside of the necessary talk during group projects.

"I'm sorry! When I arrived here you were sleeping and I thought it would be rude to wake you up, but after a while, I started getting tired as well and I assumed we were allowed to sleep here because you were and I-"

He was cut off by the girl snapping her fingers. He blushed and looked down, doing a half bow. "My apologies, mumbling is a bad habit of mine. I've never been able to get rid of it."

The girl sighed as she waved her hand, a bored expression on her face. "You know what? You let me sleep, so we're cool for now."

Izuku bowed again before following her lead and sitting down on his chair. "May I know why I'm here? Is this one big prank or did that sludge guy really kill me?"

The girl nodded, and suddenly a book appeared in front of her. "Izuku Midoriya, Quirkless, oof, tough luck, pure of heart, killed by a villain."

She looked up at him and shrugged. "You can think this is a prank if you want, but you're super dead. Although technically your body is still in use, It's just locked in a cell right now. They're bringing in some big-shot detective with a lie detector Quirk."

Izuku was less scared at the thought of being dead as he thought he should be. "You can get all that from that book? Is that your Quirk?"

The girl laughed, shaking her head. "No, it's not, I don't even have one!" Izuku was shocked at that. This was the first Quirkless person he had ever met!

"Your Quirkless too! Wow, with how rare we are nowadays, I sort of thought I might be the only one our age!"

Now she burst out laughing at him, and he couldn't help but feel a little upset at that. He had been nice to her and now she was laughing at him!

He thought she might have been nicer to him that his classmates were since she was Quirkless too. Maybe it was just something about him as a person, not his Quirklessness?

"Sorry, but you misunderstand! I am Quirkless because I'm not from your world." She stood up and spun in a circle with her arms outstretched, water shooting out of her hands.

"My name is _**Lady Aqua, the Goddess of Water**_, and guide for young souls!"

* * *

Izuku froze in shock. If he was dead, which he was like, 99% sure he was, that would mean that Aqua was an actual _Goddess?_

He stood up and bowed as deep as he could. "My apologies Lady Aqua! I wasn't aware that you were a Goddess! Please forgive me!"

Izuku stayed bowed while she stared at his quick change in position. He thought he heard her mumble something like; 'oh lord not this shit again' before she stood up as well.

"Dude! Sit down so I can explain some stuff to you! I wanna go back to sleep and I can't while you're here!" Izuku nodded and quickly sat down, waiting for her to speak.

"Look you're dead, but being dead gives you options now. The elder gods have deemed you worthy of going to heaven for various reasons"

"This means you can either ascend to heaven, or you could get reincarnated back into your world, without your memories."

Izuku thought over those options. Going to heaven sounded pretty nice, but if he was reincarnated, he might have a Quirk he could use to help people.

Aqua could see him thinking and knew that if she wanted him to go for the upcoming offer, she would have to make the other choices less desirable.

"But I do want to let you know that heaven is really boring. Just a bunch of people floating around for all eternity! You can't even do… _well… you know_."

She said the last bit to mess with him but was only met with a confused look. She was surprised, a 14-year-old boy that stayed in his room a lot didn't get what she was implying? And here she thought he was some degenerate shut-in.

"Whatever. Also, reincarnating to get a powerful Quirk isn't really how it works. Most people get something only marginally stronger, and with your Quirklessness, you start right at the bottom for usefulness."

She could see that her tactics were working as he looked crestfallen at the thought of 2 bad options. Now was the time to strike!

"But there is a third option for you!" Izuku snapped out of his mumbling and thinking immediately, looking over at Aqua. She just smiled at him.

"You see, there is another world out there. It's similar to those MMORPG games you have in your world." She was met with another confused look. "You know? Magic, elves, demons, those sorts of things?"

She saw his eyes light up in understanding. "Currently, it's under attack by a villainous Devil King. Because of the war going on, no-one wants to reincarnate there, leading to a massive drop in their population."

Izuku just listened, nodding along. He was curious why she was telling him this. She pulled out a small pamphlet.

"Because of this, we gods have decided to send young people like yourselves to that world, while allowing them to keep their old bodies and memories! Isn't that cool!"

Izuku thought over this as he reached out for the pamphlet. 'The Kingdom of Belzerg needs your help!' was written in large red writing. He read through it a bit. Apparently, he would start in a town called Axel, near an adventurers guild.

He had heard some kids at school talking about things like this before, so he had a fairly good idea of what he was expected to do. Appear in the world, join the guild, pick a class (which the pamphlet didn't have much information on) and go adventuring.

"Um, Miss Aqua? Won't I have some communication issues? Or do these people speak Japanese as well?" He flicked through the pamphlet before reaching a page with languages on it.

He saw something that looked a bit like a warning, but Aqua had come over to him and placed her hand over the box before explaining.

"Well, us gods expected this problem, and have come up with a solution! We just download the language into your brain! No problem!"

Izuku tried to pull the pamphlet out of her hands to look at the warning box but she just took it off of him.

"There you go, language barrier crisis averted! Now there is one more thing." Izuku nodded and watched as she pulled out a giant stack of paper.

"We used to have a rule where people got a special item, or ability when they did this for us, but ever since we started getting people from your world it became a non-issue. Your world is already full of superpowers!"

"But! Seeing as you're Quirkless, the gods have agreed that you may get 1 weapon or ability and take it with you!"

Izuku couldn't believe what he was hearing. He got to live again, have a power, and become a hero? Sign him up! Sure it wasn't exactly how he imagined becoming a Hero, but at this point, he would take what he could get!

"Really? You would let me do that? I could have my own power that I could help people with?" Izuku's eyes were sparkling. This was a dream come true!

"**YES!** All you have to do is choose from these and I will send you on your way!" She threw the stack of paper at him and he watched as they all fluttered to the ground.

"Why would you do that!? Now I have to pick them all back up and sort them properly!" Izuku said as he crouched down and started picking pages back up.

"What!? No! Just look around and pick one!" Aqua yelled, surprising Izuku. He wanted to make sure he did this right! "You don't even have to choose one from the pile, they're just examples!"

That surprised Izuku even more. Why not tell him that in the first place? He thought about what he had read in the pamphlet before Aqua had taken it off of him.

The Kingdom of Belzerg seemed medieval in nature. Izuku remembered the time period from history class. They were about 1.2 thousand years ago, and everything was pretty crude.

He doubted he'd have access to the type of quality of living he'd had his entire life, and he probably wouldn't have any of its amenities either.

But neither would anyone else (except maybe royalty).

Izuku was smart. He knew that this deal sounded too good to be true. He could ask for All Might level strength, but they might not like giving him something so obviously powerful.

He would have to be smart about this, just in case.

* * *

Aqua was bored with this boy now.

Sure, he was nice and polite and respectful of her divinity, but had been looking through the different possible powers and abilities for a while now, and hadn't seemed to like most of them.

She groaned, and he looked up at her for a second, before going back to his pile of options. He had been sorting it into 2 piles. **No**, and **Maybe**.

Aqua used her special chair to summon a clock. This boy had been going through the pile for 2 _hours_ now! She guessed that when he got into Belzerg he would have a high wisdom stat, as well as Intelligence stat on his adventurer card, which was good for him.

Didn't stop this from being so boring though.

"Uh, Lady Aqua? I really don't think any of these suit me very well." Aqua looked over to him to see him holding the last sheet of paper and sighed in relief.

He had gone through all the options and hadn't found anything, so now he was going to make something up, right?

"That's fine!" she used her chair to summon a piece of paper for him but found him already holding a notebook, _somehow_.

She shrugged. "Just write down the ability you want, and us gods will grant it to you! It can be anything you want, so let your mind run wild!"

Izuku looked at her and nodded, before writing something down. He then spent the next _20 minutes_ erasing certain words and re-writing them.

Now, Aqua had dealt with people who liked specifics before, but if this boy had lived, he would have made a fantastic lawyer.

After about 30 minutes of revisions to his wish, he ripped the page out of his book and held it out to her, seeming apprehensive and worried.

Maybe she had been wrong about him? He seemed pretty worried about it, maybe he wanted something really perverted or evil.

But grabbing the page and reading it showed that she _had_ been right about him. Honestly, it was a fairly weak power. She would have thought that Izuku, being Quirkless, would choose something absurdly powerful.

"Really? That's all you want? Knowing how to, and being able to make anything from your old world? That's fairly basic."

Izuku nodded, seemingly relieved. Was he really worried about such a minor power? He really lacked confidence. A few months as an adventurer would probably help fix that though.

"I mean, sure, I can grant that for you, but are you _sure_?" Izuku nodded, and it intrigued her. He was like no other 14-year-old that had been sent to her.

"Alright then, if you're sure, here I go!" As blue light appeared around her as she started the process of giving the gift to Izuku when a different light appeared above her.

Izuku looked up as well and was shocked to see someone appearing from the light. Floating in the air, was a _literal angel_. He could tell. The wings and the Halo made it obvious.

"Lady Aqua! The elder gods have discovered your mismanagement of the souls of the young! Sleeping on the job, Withholding information, rushing through the proper processes!"

Izuku was confused. "Withholding information?" Then his brain flashed the image of her covering the warning box to him, and he realised what the angel meant.

"What the hell are you talking about!? I have done nothing of the sort!" Even he could tell she was lying. She was shaking softly and was sweating, although as she was the goddess of water, it looked like she was being rained on.

"And now lying to the elder gods! For your actions, the elders have decided on your fate." At this Aqua got visibly afraid.

"Wait please no! I've only been Goddess for 15 years! Please don't erase me from existence! I don't wanna stop existing, it's fun, for the most part!" She fell to her knees in a begging motion.

She was going to get erased? Even if she did what they say she did, that was still a very harsh punishment.

"Wait!" he didn't even realise he had yelled out until both Aqua and the angel had turned to look at him. He took a deep breath.

"What if she came with me to the Belzerg? Surely helping me kill the Devil King and bringing that world back into balance would be enough to pardon her from being erased!"

Izuku didn't even really know why he had suggested it. Maybe it was because she had offered him a new life, or maybe because he wanted to be a hero, but he couldn't just let Aqua get erased.

Both of the divine beings were silent for a second, shocked that a mortal would interrupt the elder gods judgement. But after a second, Aqua jumped up and ran over to Izuku, clinging to his arm.

"YES! Let me do that! I can go down and learn about respecting mortals or something like that while I help defeat the Devil King!"

The angel turned her head and held her finger up to her ear as if talking into an earpiece. Wait, no, she _was_ talking into an earpiece! What kind of divine beings needed radios to communicate?

After a bit of talking, she lowered herself onto the ground in front of them, and Aqua ducked behind Izuku, holding onto his shoulders. It was the closest he'd ever been to a girl, and he was internally _freaking out_.

The angel stopped in front of them and the same blue light from before appeared around her. After a few seconds, Izuku could feel the influx of knowledge flooding into his brain.

It felt like he knew everything! Which, he guessed, was sort of true. The way he had worded it, anything that Humans had made, he knew how to and was able to make it.

The angel spoke. "Your request has been accepted, Izuku Midoriya. The elder gods, Aqua's creators especially, have deemed your suggestion a good learning experience for her."

She bowed to them. "Along with your gift, which you have already received, Lady Aqua will accompany you for the entirety of your journey. Once the Devil King has been slain, I will send an escort to return her to her home"

And with that, two circles of light appeared at their feet. Izuku yelped as he was slowly lifted off of the ground, but calmed down a bit after Aqua let go of him.

"And you, Izuku Midoriya. After the Devil King has been slain, the elder gods will grant you any wish your heart desires!"

As they started picking up speed, heading towards a **giant** ring of light above them, Izuku was shocked into silence while Aqua screamed. He had no idea what he had just gotten himself into, but if he succeeded he got get any wish?

White light invaded his vision, and he decided then and there that he would work as hard as he could until the Devil King was dead.

Then he could return home, with all of his new powers.


	2. Starting Town!

The light eventually faded from his vision.

And when he finally got his eyesight back, he found himself sitting on a bench on the side of a stone street.

He looked over to the other side of the street and was shocked when he saw a man in blue robes with a staff wave his hands and create a bowl full of apples, before handing it to a young boy.

He stood up and looked around. All around him were people going about their daily lives, dressed in odd clothes and using what he could only assume to be magic.

From what he read in the pamphlet Aqua had given to him, Quirks didn't exist in this world, except for the other reincarnated people around the kingdom.

His mind was going a million miles a minute as it adapted to his new power, and Izuku could see _**everything**_. Every piece of technology ever created, from simple things like the wheel, all the way up to the complex and powerful support gear of his homeworld.

He just sat there, half focused on the outside world, half focused on the _wave_ of information currently sorting itself into his brain. It almost felt like he had a search engine for blueprints in his head.

After a few minutes, which felt like hours to Izuku, his mind finally calmed. Izuku could feel the presence of the new information, but it was no longer moving, distracting him.

It felt _**amazing**_. Was this what people felt when they got their Quirk?

But it didn't feel good enough for him to ignore the rising feeling in his chest. He recognised the feeling, it was the start of a panic attack. But what was there to panic about?

_Oh right, he died_.

He died and went to an entirely different world, one where he will never see his classmates, Kacchan, All Might, or… his mum, ever again.

And that's when the panic attack fully swept over him. He fell over, side hitting the dirt, as his breathing increased. His mind was running too fast for even him to follow, going over scenes of policemen coming to the apartment and telling her that he had died.

His panic-addled brain showed him scenes of his mother crying, of his dad being called from his post oversea's just to laugh and say, 'good riddance' when told his Quirkless son had died.

Of course, there was a small part of his brain that knew he was panicking, that knew that his dad probably didn't think that way. The two, maybe three times he had talked to the man, he had genuinely seemed to care about Izuku.

He as about to loop around to the start of the panic cycle when he felt a hand on his back. He opened his eyes (_when had he closed them_) and saw Aqua looking down at him with a concerned look on her face.

"Yo, Izuku, you alright there? You're breathing pretty heavily… oh, crap! Are you having a panic attack? I mean you did just die after all that's to be expected of you but… I'm not helping am I?"

People walking past them seemed to just be ignoring them, sparing only small glances to the thin, weak-looking boy lying on the ground.

It was nothing Izuku wasn't used to. Being ignored by everyone around him whenever he needed help, that was just part of his life. Except this time, someone was at least trying to help him.

"Izuku, I realise that this is really scary, travelling to a new world always is, but I'm freaking out over here as well and I need you to be OK so that I can break down after you."

The part of Izuku that wasn't panicking, while it was small, appreciated her honesty, and somehow, it actually helped him calm down slightly. The part of him that was panicking gave way to the part of him that wanted to help people, and he could feel his mind slowing down.

It took a few minutes, but Izuku eventually calmed down enough to sit back up. That was when he got a good look at Aqua's face. Her eyes were puffy and red, and she was vibrating slightly.

She looked at him, seeing he was coming down from his panic attack. "You all good now?" and when he nodded, she sighed in relief, before wrapping him up in a giant hug, pushing her face into his shoulder.

"_Thank you thank you thank you I was going to be erased and then you suggested I come with you and they let me thank you so much you saved my life!_" She said, but Izuku didn't really hear it.

He got the gist of it, sure, but his brain was currently focused on rebooting, because he was being _hugged__**, **_by a **girl**! And not just any girl, but a _goddess_ of all people.

"_**YoUr WeLcOmE!**_" Izuku yelled, standing up. It was louder than he wanted, and his voice majorly cracked when he said it. Aqua was surprised as well when he stood up, as her butt hit the ground.

Izuku looked around, looking for something to distract himself with. He thought back to the pamphlet he was given by Aqua.

He reached for his bag and grabbed his notebook, and pulled out his pen. He started writing out the few things he could remember from the pamphlet.

* * *

_1- The starting town is called Axel_

_2- I'm not meant to tell the inhabitants I come from another world, if asked about my origins, say I'm from a distant country and change the subject_

_3- Once in Axel, I will be left mostly to my own devices, find the adventurers guild and pay the admission fee, choose a class, and work your way up to being able to defeat the Devil King._

_4- The language of the locals has been downloaded into my brain, I should be able to speak with them as if talking Japanese._

* * *

He was sure he would add onto that list later on as he remembered stuff from the pamphlet, but for now, that would be enough. Stuffing the notebook back into his bag, he looked around for the adventurers guild.

"Uh, Lady Aqua?" She looked up at him, and he helped her get to her feet. "We should probably go find the adventurers guild. I'm sure you'll be wanting to be pardoned and get to go home as quickly as possible."

He started walking towards what looked like a town square, hoping to get directions, when he noticed Aqua wasn't following him. He turned back to see her looking around.

"Lady Aqua? What's wrong?" She walked over to him and just shrugged, surprising Izuku.

"Honestly Izuku, I'm fine with not going back for a while. Defeating the Devil King is going to take a while, and as long as I'm here, I don't have to do any of my godly duties."

She then looked around, seeming confused. "So Izuku, do you know where the Adventurers Guild is?"

Izuku almost dropped to the ground right then and there. She didn't know her way around the town? She had been sending people here for over a decade, and had never actually learnt what the town was like?

"No, I don't, I was going to ask you, or one of the locals for directions. How do you not know where everything is?! You're a goddess!" He actually yelled the last part, causing a few people to glace over at them.

Aqua seemed concerned for a moment before smacking her hand over his mouth. "OK, while I am a goddess, you probably shouldn't go around yelling that out, alright? Just call me Aqua."

Izuku nodded and she removed her hand. "But to answer your question, I oversaw a lot of worlds, I can't keep track of everything in all of them, I've only existed for about 15 years, I don't have a lot of experience with this whole goddess thing."

Izuku just stared at her in disbelief. "So you really have been sending people here, while not really knowing much about it?"

Aqua just nodded and had the decency to at least _look_ sorry about it, so Izuku dropped it. That was fine. He could just find the Adventurers guild himself. Or you know, ask for directions.

He spotted a man walking past them and ran over to him, before bowing. "Excuse me, sir! I was wondering if you knew where the Adventurer Guild was? My friend and I are looking to join up!"

The man looked at him up and down then scoffed, before giving Izuku directions. As he was walking off he looked over his shoulder and yelled back at Izuku. "Good luck kid, your gonna need it."

Izuku frowned. He knew he was pretty scrawny, but was he really that bad? "Oh yea, definitely Izuku."

Izuku jumped when he realised he had said that out loud. "Although I'm pretty sure he was just jealous of you because you pointed at me and called me your friend."

Izuku just looked at her confused. Someone was jealous of him? That was definitely new. Then he remembered. In this world, nobody had a Quirk! And everyone who did, the other reincarnated people, would just pass them off as natural abilities!

But this world had MAGIC, for crying out loud. Not having a Quirk wasn't going to get him the pain and abuse that he got in his old one.

Izuku started tearing up at the thought of being treated like a human being, smiling like a lunatic.

Aqua just looked at him, concerned. "Uh, Izuku, are you alright? What's wrong? Was it something I said?"

Izuku shook his head, trying to clear up his tears. It took him longer than he would have liked. "No! You just reminded me that people here aren't going to pick on me for being Quirkless. That's something I've been wanting my entire life."

Aqua didn't really know how to respond to that. Izuku's world was a fairly common one for her to watch whenever she had free time, as the villain fights were usually pretty cool.

She knew how important a Quirk was to a person, and from the small amount of detail she had gotten from his '_Book of Life'_, not having one had caused him a whole lot of trouble.

She placed her hand on his shoulder and smiled at him. Then she slapped him. "Alright dude, I will not have the future killer of the Devil King himself crying in the middle of the street."

She pumped her fist into the air. "We are going to go to the Adventurers Guild, get signed up, get praised a bit for how awesome I am, and then we're gonna go destroy some monsters!"

Izuku wiped away the tears in his eyes and tried to smile at Aqua, but it was pretty shaky. She sighed and started dragging him along, before realising that he was the one that knew where they were going.

She facepalmed and let him in front, and they walked off together towards the guild.

* * *

Izuku was surprised when he saw the guild building.

It was huge! The other buildings weren't small or anything, but this looked like a mini castle! _It even had a moat!_

Aqua seemed just as impressed. Apparently, there wasn't actually any buildings in the divine realm, just little pockets of space that each god or angel inhabited. Izuku wanted to ask about it further but decided that it could wait.

Still staring at the large wooden doors, he poked Aqua in the shoulder and started walking forward. Aqua still looked curious but followed him in.

He pushed on the door and was hit by a wave of heat and sound. Laughter, music, the clicking of cutlery on plates, people smashing wooden mugs together. It all overwhelmed him for a second.

"Oh! Welcome!" a girl Izuku assumed was a waitress, due to the fact that she was carrying drinks, said as they entered. "If you're looking to eat, grab a seat where you can! And if you looking for work, head on over to the counter!"

Izuku smiled and nodded, bowing to her slightly, getting a confused look from the waitress in return. Aqua just laughed quietly at Izuku, who was still following Japanese customs.

Izuku just stood there and took a moment to look around the guildhall. There were decorations all over the walls and pillars, rings and paintings, as well as a giant skeleton from something that looked like a snake.

As Izuku stood there and looked around, he heard someone yell out to them. "Hey! Never seen you two around here before. Y'all got some weird clothes, you know?"

Izuku let out a small 'eep' and turned to the man. He was built like a truck, with shoulder armour held on by… pink suspenders?

Izuku bowed to him. "We're new to town! These are normal clothes from where we come from." and in a sudden spur of confidence that Izuku didn't know he even had in him, he added; "We heard you guys could use our help fighting the Devil Kings armies."

The big guy just looked at him, then clapped him on the shoulder, laughing. "If dying's what you want kid, dying's what you'll get! Guild admissions over at that desk."

Izuku rubbed his shoulder. The dude was jacked, and it hurt when he smacked him there. "Thank you, sir! Have a lovely rest of your day!" He then walked back to Aqua and brought her over to the counter the man had pointed to.

"So Izuku… Where did that come from? Your whole body language shifted for a moment, you seemed super confident!" Aqua said, skipping behind him.

"Honestly, I have no clue. Maybe its the fact that no-one here knows I'm Quirkless, or what that even means, but I just feel… I don't know how to describe it. Lighter? Like I don't have to prove myself to anyone?"

"That probably sounds stupid, but here, in Belzerg… I know I'm going to miss my old life, and I know that I'm probably going to have moments where I want nothing more than to go back and give my mum a hug…"

He sighed, rubbing his hand through his hair. "But here, I get a fresh start. Here, I'm not weak, Quirkless Deku, I'm Izuku. That's it. No one can bully me for not having a Quirk, no one can make fun of my dreams of being a hero."

He turned to Aqua, who was listening intently. "I just feel different here, like I could take on the world and come out on top."

Aqua just smiled at him and raised her hand for a high five. "That's the spirit! Show everyone that you can be a hero too!"

Izuku beamed and smacked her hand, before walking up to the counter, where he was greeted by another girl dressed as a waitress.

"Good afternoon! How can I help you two today?" The lady asked and Izuku just smiled back at her.

"My friend and I would like to apply to become adventurers! Is there like an admission fee or something like that that we would need to pay?" Izuku asked sorting through his bag to try and find his wallet.

He didn't have a lot of money, but maybe it was enough?

"Yes, there is! You'll just need about 100 Eris each (**AN: I will be using Eris as if equal to dollars, as it makes it easier for me.)**, and I can get your adventurer cards ready for you!" The lady smiled at them and Izuku realised that he only had yen, not Eris.

He turned to Aqua, and she shook her head, frowning. He turned back to the lady. "I'm sorry, would you excuse us for a moment?" The lady nodded, and Izuku and Aqua headed over to the tables on the other end of the room.

Izuku turned to Aqua. "So neither of us have any money?!" Aqua just shook her head.

"Nope, I was surprised when that angel appeared and started yelling at me, and then we got sent away really quickly, I didn't have time to grab my purse or my belongings."

Izuku sighed, and pulled his bag off, putting it on the table. He emptied it out, looking for something he would be able to sell.

There was his laptop, his 14th Hero Notebook, a bunch of stationary, a magazine from last week that had a rare interview with Miruko, and some of his homework.

He did a quick scan of the room. He had already ruled out his laptop, the Hero notebook and the Magazine to sell, as the laptop would come in handy later on, and the others had very little meaning to anyone but the other reincarnated people.

He then realised that the stationary might actually be worth something, as he saw an old wizard looking dude writing with an old quill and ink bottle. He grabbed one of the black pens and walked over to the man.

"Excuse me, sir, I see your writing with a Quill and Ink bottle. What if I said that there was a much easier way to do your writing?" Izuku said holding out the pen to the man.

The man looked sceptical, before taking the pen off of him and poking at it a few times. Izuku took the cap off and showed him the tip of the pen.

"If you place that end down on the paper, it will function just like a quill, but you won't have to risk making a mess by dipping it into the ink bottle!"

The wizard seemed to really like the idea of a pen, and Izuku started negotiating a price for his whole set of them. They eventually came to an agreement, and Izuku gave the wizard the 30 pack of black pens for 250 Eris.

"Hey Aqua! I got the registration fee!" he said, walking back over to her as she just looked at him surprised.

"Really? That was super quick! How did you do it?" Aqua asked, and was surprised when Izuku explained how he got the money.

As they walked up towards the desk again, Aqua realised what Izuku had planned with the power he had chosen. If something like a pack of ballpoint pens was worth over 200 Eris in Belzerg, what would things like guns, or cars, or any of the other modern tech he now knew how to make be worth?

She was broken out of her thoughts when the lady at the desk clap. She looked over to see Izuku standing next to a blue, globe-like device, and the lady from before holding a card.

"Izuku Midoriya! An odd name, but… holy shit you're kidding me!?" The lady had yelled that last bit out, and people were starting to look at them.

"While your strength is fairly low, and your other stats are OK, your endurance is higher than most, but your intelligence… _**it's off the charts! Literally!**_

By this point, people had started to gather around them as the lady talked. "Just look at this Mr Midoriya! Your Intelligence is so high our card maker can't quantify it!"

Izuku gulped. He hadn't wanted to draw this much attention, but now this lady was yelling out his stats for the whole guild to hear.

"While you can't be a martial class like Crusader or Paladin, with your high Intelligence, you could start as an Archwizard, or even…"

She trailed off, mouth wide open, staring at Izuku. She blinked, rubbed her eyes, and looked at the options again. "_Holy crap… _Izuku Midoriya. You are eligible for one of the legacy classes!"

Izuku looked at her in confusion. What was a Legacy class? He asked her and she just shook her head. "A legacy Class is a unique class that only 1 person can have at a time!"

"Izuku Midoriya, you are eligible to become the first Artificer in 70 years!" She said, handing over his card to him. He read the description for this "Artificer" class.

* * *

**The Artificer: A support/utility caster with a focus for magical items! Use your magical gadgets to assist your team with a variety of effects! Cast magic spells with the aim of assisting your party members! Create terrifying automatons to terrorise your enemies!**

* * *

Izuku looked over the descriptions for the other classes that were available, but none of them spoke to him like the Artificer did. Maybe it was the new information in his brain trying to put him in a class that would help him build things.

Or maybe it was something else? AS he selected the artificer class, it felt like coming home. Like he was always meant to be an artificer.

He was still a little out of it as he went and sat down, looking over his card. Aqua went up to the blue globe next, but Izuku was too focused on his card to hear everyone gushing about her abilities as she chose Archpriestess as her class.

He was still too focused on his card, and the feeling he had gotten from choosing Artificer, to hear people murmuring about how absurdly powerful the pair were for 1st level adventurers.

He was broken out of his stupor when Aqua walked over and sat down beside him, bumping his shoulder. She held up her card.

"Izuku! I'm an ArchPreistess! Unfortunately, there's no Goddess class but this is good enough! And you're an art…something. Whatever its called! You're a unique class! How cool are we!?"

Izuku just nodded and looked back down at this card. Because of his amazing Intelligence stat, which Izuku was fairly certain came from the gift he had been given, he had around 16 skill points to spend on abilities.

He read through the skills available for a 1st level artificer and found some spells and abilities that he thought would be a good basis for his powers.

If he was going to be building a lot of things, which he was, he would need the tools to do so with. So he chose **|Summon Tool|** as his first spell, which gave him the ability to summon any tool he needed for construction. _(He tried summoning a power drill but it didn't work, seemed to only be things like hammers or wrenches)_

He levelled it up once, using another skill point, to lessen the mana drain of summoning a tool. Apparently, it costs a base amount to summon the tool, and then a steady amount to maintain the tool's existence. If your mana ran out, the tool disappeared.

He looked through the list again. There were some pretty good options, but as he glanced over at the kinds of things Aqua was buying, things like party tricks and healing spells, he realised that they currently had no offence.

So he chose the highest damaging 1st level spell for the artificer, a spell called **|Fire Bolt|**. The spell described it a mini fireball, and when he tried summoning it, he realised why. He felt like Endeavour, having the orb of fire hovering centimetres above his hand.

He didn't want to throw it while still in the guildhall, so he saved it for later. He found a pretty cool utility spell called **|Skill Bind|**, a spell that let him lock down other creatures abilities. He had around 7 skill points at this point and looked through the rest of the 1st level abilities.

None really stood out to him except for one. It was called **|Farsight|**. Something about being a builder who could see long distances just felt right to him. It would also probably help once he started making guns, which was on his to-do list.

With his 6 remaining skill points, he added 3 points to **|Fire Bolt|**, both increasing its damage and reducing Mana cost slightly, and the other 3 into **|Summon Tool|**, reducing the mana cost for that as well.

He looked over to the lady who had given Aqua and him their cards and tried out **|Farsight**| to see her name tag on the desk. It worked better than he thought it would, as the name 'Luna" became all he could see.

He quickly dropped the spell and nudged Aqua. She looked at him and saw his smile, as well as the lit-up abilities on his card.

"You all done Izuku?" When he nodded she stood up, flourishing 2 Japanese fans she summoned from out of nowhere.

"Then let's go on a Quest! I saw an easy one to help us learn the ropes, all we have to do is kill a bunch of weak-ass frogs. And with how awesome we are, its gonnabe easy peasy!"

Izuku just laughed and followed her up to the counter. He enjoyed her confident nature, but something about this Quest seemed off to him.

He felt like _something_ was going to go wrong for some reason.

**Izuku Midoriya**

**LVL 1 - Artificer**

**Skill Points Remaining: 0**

**Attribute Points Remaining: 0**

**Strength: 12**

**Dexterity: 45**

**Endurance: 50**

**Intelligence: ? **

**Wisdom: 25**

**Charisma: 30**

**Luck: 20**

**Abilities: Natural Craftsman, Infuse Magic Item**

**Spells: Skill Bind, Firebolt, Summon Tool, Farsight**


	3. The chapter where I beat canon to death

Izuku was cold.

They had decided that going on the kill quest immediately wasn't the _best_ idea, so they had been working the last few days to earn enough Eris for some basic gear.

They had been working for a week now: Aqua was helping some labourers build a wall by providing strength buffs and healing, as well as refreshments, while Izuku had decided to help out at the local blacksmiths.

But they weren't really getting where he wanted: the extra 50 Eris Izuku had gotten from the Wizard had gotten them a room at the guild for 2 nights, but after that, they had been forced to stay in the stables near the edge of town.

That meant no fireplace, minimal blankets, and a snoring Aqua right next to him. He had originally _freaked out_ at the idea of sleeping next to a girl, but 5 days in, all he wanted her to do was stop snoring.

Seriously, she was _**so loud**_.

To try and get some sleep, he laid back down, wrapped his ears in his blanket, and thought about the previous week, attempting to ignore the snoring.

Izuku had tested out a few of his new abilities during the week. He messed around with **|Farsight|** for a while and found a way to select a few different distances. It was nothing precise, but at least he didn't just zoom in on random ants.

Aqua had agreed to help him practise with **|Skill Bind|**: she would stand in front of him and constantly perform her low mana costing party tricks, and Izuku would have to try and shut them off.

She was able to resist it at first, but as Izuku started getting the feel of the spell, he started to nullify the ability. He wasn't perfect at it if Aqua pumped more mana into the spell than the base cost, Izuku had a hard time, but he was getting better.

**|Summon Tool|** didn't really have anything he could improve with without putting more skill points into it, and he hadn't levelled up yet, so he couldn't. He did, however, use it around the blacksmith's forge a lot, which had allowed him to start figuring out what each tool did, since he lacked any prior experience with crafting.

Turns out though, that **|Fire Bolt|** is surprisingly easy to use. Izuku had made some targets out of sticks lying on the ground near the forest and had been practising his accuracy. It was a bit weird for him, suddenly being able to shoot fire from his hands, but he kept at his practice.

At this point, he was pretty confident at hitting something about 15m in front of him and could hit _most of the time_ up to around 25m. This seemed to be the distance limit of the spell, as the bolt usually vanished after travelling that far.

And he had attempted to use another thing on his card, an ability called **|Infuse Magic Item|**. The spell description on his adventurer card said he needed to be holding a non-magical object, so he grabbed his laptop, and tried to use the ability.

A small scroll appeared in his hands. At the top of the scroll, it said |**Laptop, Generic school model|**, and below it, was a list.

The list included things like; _Increased Battery Life, Increased Durability, Increased Memory_. Unfortunately for Izuku, they were all crossed out when he tried to press them, stating that he was too low level for this particular item.

He understood why. A computer was much more complex than say, a dagger, or a shield. He had a quick look around the guildhall and searched for other options.

* * *

Dempton, a paladin that frequented the guildhall, was a large man in silver armour. From what his adventurer's card said, he was around LVL 9.

From what Izuku had heard, he was a friendly guy that was willing to aid new adventurers, so he guessed Dempton might be a good person to ask for help.

Izuku walked over to the man. The man gave him a once over before standing up and smacking his fist to his heart.

"Greetings, Artificer! How may I assist you?"

That really shocked Izuku. This guy, who was built like a fucking truck, was showing him respect and asking how he could help him? _This was new_.

Mentally shrugging, he placed his hand over his heart as well and bowed slightly. He was having a hard time kicking the habit of bowing to everyone: he had done it his entire life, and probably would still be doing it for a long time.

Ignoring the odd look Dempton was giving him as he bowed, Izuku cleared his throat and put on his most important sounding voice.

"Excuse me, Paladin Dempton! I wish to practise infusing items with magical energy using your gear." Izuku tried to keep up the regal tone he was putting on, but the cold stare Dempton was giving him unnerved him.

"Nothing bad will happen if It doesn't work, I think, but if it **does** work, which I'm sure it will, your item will have a special effect! I'll even do it for free, I just want to practise!"

Dempton was silent for a moment, before starting to laugh.

"Artificer, you're one weird kid! I thought you would be all high and mighty about being a Legacy Adventurer, but you're just a nervous teenager!"

Carefully, Dempton placed a large metal shield on the table. It was, in one word, _magnificent_: it was rectangular, made of good steel and covered in silver and gold, showing an intricate pattern that proclaimed Dempton's faith in the Goddess of Life. He tapped it and smiled.

"You may use my shield! I mainly tank for my party, and while my Endurance is pretty high, any defensive bonuses you can give me would be greatly appreciated!"

Izuku _beamed_ at Dempton and placed his hand on the shield, activating **|Infuse Magic Item|**, and another scroll appeared.

The object was apparently a **|Steel Tower Shield|**. Instead of the artificer logo in the top corner, as had happened with the laptop, this scroll was adorned with the same symbol that shone on the shield's surface. But, more importantly, this time the scroll had several available options for him to choose!

Checking the list, Izuku saw some of the options as interesting, such as _Reduced Weight_, _Increased Durability_, _Shock Absorption_ and _Damage Return_. He passed the list over to Dempton, who stared at the scroll before turning to Izuku.

"Artificer, how many of these enchantments can go on one item?"

Izuku held up his finger, asking Dempton to wait for a moment, before pulling out his adventurer card and selecting **|Infuse Magic Item|**. He read the description and turned back to Dempton.

"It says here that, while a Level 1 Artificer, I can only add 1 infusion to an item. Once I get up to Level 6, It will become 2, and then at level 12, it will become 3. All levels after that increase the power of the infusions, but the maximum is 3 infusions per item."

Dempton just nodded, seeming appeased.

"Well then, Artificer, I would like to see if you could add the _Damage Return_ infusion to my Shield, please. With the amount of hits I take, giving the monster a taste of its own medicine will be a welcome addition."

Izuku nodded, smiling up at Dempton, before selecting the Infusion. The shield started to give off a light green glow, as did Izuku's hands.

It took a few seconds before green tendrils started sprouting for Izuku's hands and entering the shield. A crowd started gathering as they watched the first Artificer in around 70 years infuse a new magic item.

Izuku wasn't very comfortable with the crowd, especially since Aqua wasn't there, but he pushed through his anxiety, focusing on the Infusion. After a while, the light surrounding the shield pulsed, flashing for a moment.

Then there was an eruption of green light from the shield, causing many of the crowd to yell and cover their eyes. But when they opened them, they were greeted with a marvellous sight.

The shield hummed with energy as a green rune was imprinted onto the back, under the handles. Izuku smiled as he felt the mana leave his body, then face-planted onto the table, unable to move.

"_Woah,_" he mumbled, and a few minutes later he was helped to his feet by Dempton. "I didn't know that was going to take so much out of me."

Dempton looked at him in concern.

"Have you never overused your Mana before? Surely, a caster class like you would have faced such an issue, especially in your apprentice days."

Izuku, still fairly groggy from casting, forgot the fact that he wasn't meant to tell people about his past. He looked up to Dempton as they walked over to the comfier chairs.

"Uh, no. That's the first time I have ever cast a spell that used this much of my mana. I never had an apprenticeship either, I started magic this week."

Dempton just stopped, staring at him with his mouth agape.

"You… YOU STARTED CASTING MAGIC THIS WEEK?"

That was when Izuku realised his mistake.

He was unable to move properly due to Mana exhaustion, and Dempton had just alerted the guild that he was a novice. The fact that he was an Artificer but only had a week of magic under his belt would probably cause him some problems.

_And… he was righ_t. On the other side of the room, there was a large man, with dark black armour, staring at him with a predatory glint in his eyes. Izuku had been wary of him since he got here.

No-one in Axel knew the man's real name, only his title, The Shade. He was a lone wolf. And even though he didn't have a party, he worked through high-level quests all the same.

No-one in Axel seemed to be able to stand up to the man, and the non-adventurers feared him. The adventurers were cautious of the man and just stayed out of his way.

_And Izuku was fairly sure he was a reincarnate._

* * *

Shade stood up, the clinking of his armour alerting people as he moved over to Izuku.

People moved away from him almost subconsciously as he approached Izuku, hand on the pommel of his sword, smirk on his face.

He leaned down, right in Izuku's face, making Izuku gag with his foul breath. It smelled like the man had never brushed his teeth a day in his life.

"Only started casting magic this week, eh, _boy_? That must make you _quite the prodigy_." He looped his arm around Izuku's shoulders, Dempton taking a step back as he got close.

He pulled Izuku up onto his feet and smiled, but it was the kind of smile his old teacher gave him before notifying the class that he wanted to go to UA. Izuku shuddered as he was dragged towards the door.

Shade was known for taking on the biggest guy in the room with one hand behind his back, and always coming out on top. Izuku had no doubts that he wouldn't be able to beat him… _yet._

Shade took off his right glove and patted Izuku's shoulder, smirking. "Why don't you and I take a little walk around the block and… _chat about things_."

Izuku, strangely, found himself unable to say no and felt his body nod his head before he was promptly dropped, struggling to stand up without Shade's support.

He stood a few steps away from Izuku, before walking off swiftly. Izuku struggled to catch up to him but didn't want to know what would happen if he fell behind.

They reached a small alcove, and Shade stopped. He turned to Izuku and smirked again. "Izuku Midoriya, The Artificer of Axel. Showed up a week ago, and has already become somewhat of a local celebrity. Even though he hasn't done a single quest yet."

"Along with his party member, an ArchPriestess of the Axis Cult, that looks _suspiciously_ like the Goddess of Water, Aqua herself, even sharing her name."

He grabbed Izuku's chin and moved his head side to side, staring. "And look at you. You're definitely not from around here…"

Izuku gulped, pulling his head back from Shades hand. "I'm not, I come from very far away." He raised his head, staring Shade in the eyes, feeling the cold glare in his soul.

"Well no shit kid, one look at you was enough to know that, now _shut the fuck up and listen_." Shade hissed, and Izuku shrunk into himself slightly. Shade seemed to like that.

"My name is Durza. Or at least… _that was my villain name_." at that, Izuku stood up straight, eyes instantly looking around for ways to escape. Durza started laughing.

Izuku had _heard_ about Durza before. There was never any picture of him, but he was a B-level villain that worked in the Shizuoka Prefecture as a blackmailer and infiltrator.

As he went over the police report in his head, he realised why he was unable to say no to Durza earlier: Durza, when making skin contact with another person, could implant commands.

They only stayed for about 2 minutes after he let go of them, but the victim would follow the commands to the letter, with only the strongest of wills able to resist, and even then, it was usually just a matter of time. The victim was usually unconscious during the trance, but apparently some had been commanded to stay conscious.

"_Uh uh ah_, no running away now." Durza had leaned forward while Izuku looked around, and had glared at Izuku. Izuku felt the pressure return to his mind and was confused. He needed to be touching him!

"Stay right there and stay conscious for me, I want to ask you some _questions_." Izuku felt his body, everything below his neck, freeze up, and he struggled for a moment, unable to move.

"That's a Quirk! How the hell did you get reincarnated here?! I thought they sent people here to be heroes!" Izuku said through gritted teeth. This guy was a threat. Not only to him, but to Aqua, and all the inhabitants of Axel, maybe even Belzerg as a whole.

"Ah, thank you for that lovely segue. That absolute dolt of a Goddess didn't even read my book before offering me this new life." He smirked at Izuku. "But, to be fair to the girl, it wasn't her fault that my Quirk worked on her…"

Izuku was shocked to hear that. His Quirk worked on her? But she was a Goddess, not a human! Maybe it was because both of them were on the same plane of existence?

"And then you, who I'm 100% sure is another Reincarnate, show up out of the blue with her doppelganger." He laughed, sending shivers down Izuku's spine.

"She's the real deal, isn't she? Bet you asked for her as your gift!" Izuku's eyes widened even further. He had a Quirk! Why was he given a gift?

"I can see she told you Quirked people didn't get gifts either! But when you have a Goddess under your command, why not go the whole way and get something useful, right?"

He raised his hand and Izuku saw the tiny strings appear from his hands. "I didn't want to get caught by the so-called '_divine beings_', so I didn't ask for something too big, But being able to make controllable strings of skin from my fingers has been _extremely_ helpful."

Izuku gulped. That small gift, while insignificant on its own, gave him the ability to give commands from range. And Izuku didn't know how long they could get, meaning he was at a major disadvantage.

"These tendrils are actually what I gave your commands with just then! Isn't that just so much fun? You, the mighty Artificer, completely at my mercy, with your little Goddess friend unaware of what I can do…"

"Maybe I can go visit her instead? You're all quiet and your dreadfully boring. She's at least good looking, I would probably be able to have a lot of **fun** with her..."

It took Izuku a second to realise what he meant, but when he did, he saw red.

It wasn't _**really**_ his fault what happened next.

* * *

Turns out, Durza might sound all posh and stuff... but he wasn't terribly smart.

Quirks were physical abilities. And science was still science, even with magic fucking with reality almost 24/7. The energy that Durza's body emitted to control other people used skin contact to spread effectively.

If the skin contact is too small or cut short, the time that the user is controlled is shortened. Of course, Durza had never realised this before, always focusing on the commands he gave a person, and not usually worrying about the time limit to his Quirk.

It had never failed him back home, and so far, it hadn't failed him in Belzerg. That was until he pissed off someone he had only commanded with a _**millimetre of skin contact**_.

The tendrils of skin he could shoot from each finger might give him a ranged option for his Quirk but at the cost of its effectiveness. With such a small amount of skin contact, the command on Izuku was fairly weak.

And Izuku was _**PISSED**_.

He didn't even really know what happened. One moment he was hearing Durza threaten the first person he had called a proper friend since Kachaan started bullying him, and the next the alcove was on fire, he could move...

And when he looked down, Durza was lying on the ground, barely recognisable, _burn marks_ covering his face, and _a knife in his heart_.

He felt himself gag as he almost threw up, but held it down. He didn't even look back: he just ran back towards the guildhall as everything burned around him.

A siren rang out. Shouts were given. He could barely understand what they said, but it seemed to be a general call for anyone with water spells, so they could contain and put out the fire,

He eventually reached the main street, coughing and sputtering from all the smoke around him. He collapsed to the ground, and felt something cold wrap around his arm, dragging him away from the fires.

He opened his eyes a few seconds later to see that it was Dempton dragging him. He made a mental note to thank him later, before promptly passing out.

He would have to deal with all of it once he woke up again, but for now, he was okay with just sleeping for a bit. Fighting against Durza's Quirk was mentally exhausting.

And while his body might be used to high temperatures by now, the one good thing about his '_friendship_' with Kachaan, He was still burnt, short of breath, and still pretty tired from Infusing Demptons shield earlier.

When Dempton felt Izuku go limp, he immediately picked up his pace towards the area where the clerics and priests were, in order to get him some healing. He owed the boy big for his shield's upgrade after all, and from the looks of it, getting rid of one of Axel's scariest adventurers. While, as a Life Paladin, he might not condone the killing of another humanoid, as a citizen of Axel he definitely appreciated Durza's death.

* * *

It was night time when he came to.

The world came back to him slowly as he woke up. The first thing he noticed was that it was a lot cooler than before, meaning the fire had probably been put out.

He also noticed that he wasn't in the stables, he was lying on a cot in a small tent. He also noticed that he wasn't alone. He turned to his side to see his friend.

On the other side of the tent, Aqua was sleeping in another cot. She wasn't snoring this time though, something that Izuku thanked all the gods (he guessed that they were watching him and Aqua) up above for the gift.

He turned back, his side starting to hurt, and smiled. He was glad to have met Aqua and glad to know that he had protected both her and Axel from someone like Durza.

Before his brain could pull up the image of Durza's corpse for him again, he laid back onto his bed. With a smile on his face, he fell into a dreamless sleep, as his body recovered from his recent ordeal.

* * *

Izuku got even more popular around Axel after that.

There was an "official investigation" into Durza's death, but the "investigator" was the local sheriff, who had already been looking into Durza for suspicious behaviour.

Plus, after Izuku explained what had happened, the entire town agreed that not only was Izuku acting in self-defence, but that Durza's death could be labelled as a "grand service to the community" - so Izuku ended up getting _paid_ for killing the man.

Izuku wasn't _really_ okay with that, though. He had gotten around 700 Eris for _murdering someone_. And, while Durza was a villain, and definitely deserved worse than the quick death Izuku gave him, Izuku was still a bit uneasy about it.

But he shook his head and dispelled those thoughts from his head: he was trying to test something, and he needed to focus. He didn't know if this would use his Mana, and while Aqua was with him in case of an accident, he was still nervous.

He was going to be testing the gift he had chosen for the first time.

He had been using his part-time jobs helping out the numerous blacksmiths in Axel as an opportunity to learn a bit more about the tools he could summon, and crafting in general.

**|Summon Tool|** had been incredibly useful, as it could summon pens he had used to fill a notebook on techniques that could be used to strengthen metals and create more resistant and flexible blades.

He had also bought some basic materials, like lumps of various unprocessed metals and some leather straps, and he had also splurged a bit and gotten his hands on something called Shockwood: it was a favourite for weapon-smiths, as it was nigh-unbreakable due to its shock-absorbing properties. Izuku was planning on using it for the grip for his new sword.

He easily found the blueprints he had been looking for in his mind: a modern alteration to the design of the English medieval longsword. Its modern version would have used more advanced techniques or Quirks to make them stronger, but fortunately, his 'Gift' offered him suitable substitutes.

So, that was where he found himself: sitting in the middle of a pile of materials, anvil and forge to his right, workbench to his left, all belonging to one of the town's blacksmiths, a dwarf by the name of Gimral, who had allowed him to test his ability in his workspace.

Izuku focused on the blueprint. He could see the way the sword had to be tempered, the way the sheathe had to be made to perfectly house the blade. He could see the knife marks made while carving the Shockwood handle.

He could see _**everything **_about this blade, and it filled him with joy.

He looked over to Aqua, who was holding a red potion in her right hand and preparing the highest level healing spell she had in her left. He smiled at her.

"Alright then, I guess It's time to see what happens," he said, hearing his voice shake a bit. Aqua nodded, shaking the red potion at him.

"You better not kill yourself or something trying to make this sword, Izuku, I won't forgive you if you leave me here all by myself!" she said, almost dropping the vial, scrambling to grab it, before putting on her angry face again.

Izuku laughed.

"Yes, Lady Aqua, whatever you say Lady Aqua." He chuckled as she pouted. Maybe it was just the shock of having taken a life, but Izuku couldn't feel it in him to be shy or flustered around Aqua right now.

He turned back to the materials, placing his hands on them, and focused on the blueprint again. The materials vanished, making him yelp in surprise, and a parchment scroll appeared in front of him. He picked it up with shaking hands, not noticing that Aqua had already uncapped the healing potion, and read the scroll's contents.

* * *

**[Izuku Midoriya, Artificer, Shadeslayer]**

**You are about to activate |Natural Craftsman|. This process will take ~4 consecutive hours, barring any interruptions.**

**If you proceed, the materials you have selected will be consumed and used to create (Modern English Longsword). Do you wish to Proceed?**

**[YES] [NO]**

* * *

He stared at the scroll in shock. Sure, he knew that this world was kind of like a video game, with magic and monsters and dungeons and dragons, and… well, a whole lot of other things, but this was crazy!

He turned to Aqua, who just shot him a shaky thumbs-up, and looked back at the scroll. He shrugged, tapping the **[YES]** button.

It felt _**amazing**_.

His body started moving on its own, as Izuku's mind was busy, analyzing the blueprint in his mind. He almost couldn't see the outside world, but he could feel his body grabbing onto the materials he needed for each step.

He couldn't hear Aqua's questions, nor her humming after an hour of boredom. Time passed quickly for him: the only thing he could focus was the slamming of the hammer, the heat of the forge, the carving of the handle and the wrapping of the leather.

It had been early morning when he started, and when he came to again, he was sweating, thirsty, hungry, and physically exhausted. But his brain was alight.

It felt better than eating katsudon, better than when he scored high on a test. It felt like the object on the workbench _completed him_.

He looked down at said object and was surprised by what he saw. _It was beautiful_. He could tell, somehow, that it wasn't exactly what he was shown in the blueprint, but he knew that it was as accurate as he could possibly make it without the use of a Quirk.

Picking up the sheathed sword, he felt the need to name it. It was the first thing he had made with his gift, his first step to becoming a hero to this world, his first step to killing the Devil King. It was his…

He smiled, thinking of the perfect name for his new sword.

It was his _**|Dawn|**_.


	4. Achievement: Plus 1 Party Member!

He was really tired after making **|Dawn|**.

He didn't want to give the sword any infusions yet, because as of now, he didn't know if he could take them off or replace them later.

He wanted to have this sword for a while, meaning if he infused upgrades into it now, it probably wouldn't scale well once he started fighting tougher opponents.

He had to take a break directly after making his new sword though, and after chugging the healing potion aqua offered him _(just in case)_, he sat down for a bit and checked his adventurer card.

He almost spat out the potion when he saw it. He had levelled up a whopping **_3 times_** from a combination of killing Durza, making **|Dawn|**, and the various help he had been giving the town's citizens.

He leaned over and poked Aqua. "Hey Aqua, is this normal? I only did like two or three things but I'm level 4 now!"

She looked at his card surprised. She then pulled out her own. Checking it, Izuku saw that she was level 2 now, halfway to level 3.

Izuku hummed, placing his finger on his chin and starting to mumble. "I guess there is a party sharing system for XP gained. It's probably just because Durza way out-levelled me that I got so much XP for getting rid of him."

Aqua nodded but knew that if she didn't stop him now, he would get to the point where she wouldn't be able to understand him. She let him ramble on for a little bit longer, before starting to get annoyed, so she poked him.

"Yo dude, I know overthinking stuff is like, your thing and all, but you should be spending more time buying and upgrading abilities than wondering where your XP came from!" she said, as she grabbed her card back and started buying things.

"Ah! You're right! I need to see what I'm able to unlock now!" He tapped on the abilities section and was given a list showing possible abilities, with descriptions, and prices, as well as how many skill points he had to use in the top right.

If he hadn't already drunk the potion in its entirety, he would have spat it out, _again_. The skills averaged a cost of 4-6 for 4th level abilities, and Izuku had **24 skill points** and **3 attribute points!**

He wasn't exactly sure what the attribute points did, but he guessed that they increased things like his strength, endurance, luck, etc. Those were best left for last, so he could think about them properly.

He looked over the list of abilities he could unlock right now. His mind was blown by the potential of some spells.

Things like **|Powered|**, which would increase attack power on the target, **|Reflect|**, which would send an opponent's attack back at them, and **|Create Golem|**, which would allow Izuku to turn materials into _"living"_ allies, he had some pretty good options!

**|Powered|** only cost 4 points to get at a base level, so Izuku bought it. If the way he thought an Artificer worked, buffing allies and debuffing enemies, focusing on support, then it would be a good investment.

**|Create Golem|** was next on the list at a cost of 6 points, so he did a quick read over its description.

While at the lower levels, Izuku could only make Golem's out of things like Mud, wood, and other weak materials, later on, he would be able to make them out of better materials like stone or steel.

The Golems were verbally controlled workers that could be outfitted with various gear! From what he could tell, being able to make Golems of any form was a rare ability, usually only being accessible to the Creator class.

Izuku could see the infinite potential of an ability like this, from guarding things with metal golems to scouting things with cheap, disposable earth golems. He bought the spell.

He still had 13 points left and decided that he would grab **|Reflect|**, as it only cost 5 points, and then save the other points. He didn't know if he got less when he went up into the higher levels.

He checked out the description for **|Reflect|**. It really was an amazing spell. Anything equally or less powerful than the spell would be sent back to the person who shot it at him. While only for ranged attacks, it was still an extremely useful spell.

He bought it, closing the spell list and opening the attribute list.

**Izuku Midoriya: Shadeslayer**

**LVL 4 - Artificer**

**Skill Points Remaining: 7**

**Attribute Points Remaining: 3**

**Strength: 13**

**Dexterity: 45**

**Endurance: 50**

**Intelligence: ? **

**Wisdom: 25**

**Charisma: 30**

**Luck: 20**

**Abilities: Natural Craftsman, Infuse Magic Item, Create Golem,**

**Spells: Skill Bind, Firebolt, Summon Tool, Farsight, Powered, Reflect**

He wasn't entirely sure what to do with his attribute points. His intelligence was already so high that if he put points into it he might just ascend into the astral plane.

His strength was pretty low, but he noted that the exercise he had done over the week had already increased it by 1 point, so he decided he could just work on his strength manually at a later date.

He already had a fairly high endurance (Thanks to Kachaan's _"practise",_ he guessed) and he wasn't planning on being in the line of fire anyway. Same deal with Dexterity. Might be good to look into later but for now not a priority.

He considered Charisma but decided that it wasn't really his style, so he decided against it. He was more the,_ 'fumble his way through a conversation and try not to stutter'_ type, not the smooth-talking type.

Wisdom… wasn't really helpful for his class. It gave no bonuses to crafting that **|Natural Craftsman|** didn't already give him, and he was still a little concerned about messing with how his brain works with magic.

_(Although it was a little late for that sort of caution, considering the gift he asked for)_

So that just left him with Luck. _And lord knows he needed some of that_.

He looked over at what Aqua was putting her points into, and was proud of her when she backed out of buying another party trick in favour of purchasing a spell called **|Blessing|**.

Nodding to himself, he put the 3 points into luck and blinked. He didn't _feel_ any luckier, but then again, how exactly would that feel? Shrugging, he got to his feet and picked up **|Dawn|**.

Aqua looked up from her card. "What's up Izuku? Where are you off to?" She was still feeling bad about not being there when Izuku was basically abducted. Especially because it was apparently her fault Durza was in this world to begin with.

Izuku just smiled at her. "I reckon it's time that we go on an actual quest! Now that I'm armed, we should be able to take out those toads easily! It will be a good test of skill!"

Aqua just smiled, waving a fan at him, accidentally squirting him in the face with a little bit of water. "Hell yea! Let's do this!-"

**_"We can totally beat a bunch of weak ass frogs!"_**

**_"AAAQQQUUUAAA"_**

Aqua was currently on the ground, laughing her ass off as Izuku sprinted away from a giant toad. The quest hadn't gone _exactly_ how he had hoped. "AQUA HELP ME!"

Apparently, around this time of year, Giant Toads would come out of hibernation in search of food. Normally this would be fine if it wasn't for the fact that they came after farmer's sheep.

_And the occasional farmer._

Izuku had been looking forward to his first Quest. It would be a good way to gauge how skilled he was already, and what he should be focusing on.

And his enemies were just toads! Sure they ate sheep but they couldn't be _super_ big, right? Izuku now regretted his previous foolishness. **_THE FROGS WERE THE SIZE OF A BUS_**.

"Hahaha! This is hysterical! You should see the look on your face right now Izuku!" It took everything in Izuku's being to not yell at her for that. He settled with just telling her off later after he had calmed down a bit.

"Aqua! Do you have any spells to immobilise it?!" He yelled at her, continuing to sprint away from the humongous toad.

She held up a finger in a 'one-second' motion and pulled out her adventurer card. Izuku almost facepalmed just from that. She didn't know!?

"Hmm, no that wouldn't work, not that either. ooh, maybe this one? Ah, nope…" Aqua hummed as she looked through the list. _'She's taking her sweet time'_

Izuku gave up at that point. He could do this himself! He didn't need Aqua right now, he could do it himself! He ran a bit further ahead of the Toad and spun around to face it, drawing **|Dawn|**.

He watched over his shoulder as the Toad chased him, looking for a weakness he could exploit.

"**POWERED!**" As he yelled out the spell name, he could feel **|Dawn|** humming with power. He watched as the Toad prepared to jump at him again.

As soon as the Toad left the ground, Izuku was sprinting towards where it had jumped from. The Toad let out and angry sounding ribbit as it flew over his head, landing behind him.

Izuku turned and jumped onto the Toad's back, stabbing **|Dawn|** into it, and using it to climb up its back. The Toad ribbited again and started jumping, trying to throw Izuku off.

"I don't think I've got any immobilising spells Izuku- AAAHHH?!" Great, Aqua was in trouble! He needed to end this one quickly so he could help her.

He reached the top of the Toad and stabbed **|Dawn|** down into the Toad's head, the Toad going limp as it's brain was impaled. He looked over at Aqua to check on her and yelped.

There was another toad standing where she had been watching from, and Izuku could see Aqua's legs squirming from its mouth. He jumped down off of the toad he had killed, yelling.

**"AQUA!"** He sprinted up to the Toad. Interestingly, they seemed to stand still when eating something. This gave Izuku an easy shot when it came to stabbing it.

He quickly ran to the mouth and pulled it open, seeing Aqua crying. "Aqua! It's OK now! I got the Toad, you're safe now."

He set up **|Dawn|** so that it was holding up the mouth of the Toad, allowing Aqua to crawl out. She was covered in a thick slime, which Izuku guessed was saliva.

So, when she lunged at him and hugged him, he had to resist gagging as the smell of the slime was brought right to him.

"Izuku! I'm so sorry I didn't help with the other Toad. It was just really funny! Thank you for saving me again!" She was still crying, so Izuku ignored the slime and hugged her back, surprising himself.

The old him would have shut down from a hug like this. Hell, he _did_ shut down just a week ago when she had hugged him. Was he already that different from his old self?

He patted her on the back, rubbing circles like the first-aid videos said too when someone was panicking. "It's alright Aqua, you're safe now, I am here…"

At that moment, he was actually kind of glad she didn't come from his homeworld, or she would probably have called him out for using All Might's catchphrase.

They stayed like that for a little while, before Izuku pulled back when he heard thudding. It was probably another giant toad, and they definitely didn't have the capacity to fight more of them today with just the two of them.

Not unless he let Aqua get half-eaten again, and he definitely wasn't going to do that.

"Alright Aqua, we have a few days to do this and we only have to do 3 more Toads! Let's go home for today and get you all cleaned up." He smiled at her as he pulled her completely out of the Toads mouth.

He pulled **|Dawn|** out and wiped it on the grass, getting rid of the slime on it. After he found it clean enough, he helped Aqua to her feet. She was still sniffling, but the tears seemed to have ended.

They started walking back to Axel to regroup. They had no clue what would be waiting for them.

The guildhall rooms were a blessing.

Izuku had used part of the reward he had gotten for _removing _Durza from Axel to pay for some rooms. It had only cost him around 300 for a whole week, so he still had 400 Eris to spare.

They didn't have a shower, something that Izuku would be planning to fix once he got more materials and more experience, but they had good quality baths. Izuku was less covered in slime, so he let Aqua up into the room to clean herself first.

He was waiting down in the guildhall, debating with himself if he should get a new outfit. Sure, one of Aqua's spells allowed her to clean his clothes, but he still wanted a bit of variety. Also, this was a new world! People often commented on his odd clothing.

He wanted something that could work as both armour and workshop gear in case he even needed to swap between his activities quickly. He was sitting at one of the tables, eating a loaf of bread, designing a new outfit.

He was about halfway through drawing it into his notebook when he saw Aqua sit down on the other side of the table. She smiled at him.

"Hey, Izuku! Whatcha drawing?" She leaned over and tried to look at it, before sighing and walking to the other side of the table, sitting down next to Izuku.

"Ooo! That looks really nice! Imagine you, all dressed up in your battle outfit! Like a real Artificer!" She said, pumping her fist into the air.

Izuku laughed. "We don't really know what a '_real artificer_' does, let alone wear. I'm just designing a suit that will help in a variety of situations."

"Oh, Izuku that reminds me, could you mak-" she was interrupted by a loud thump on the floor behind them, and they jumped in surprise.

"**Excuse me!** You are the famed Artificer of Axel, correct!" Izuku turned around and saw who was asking the question.

It was a short girl in a black and red dress with a matching witches hat. She had shoulder-length, pitch-black hair and a red eye-patch with a white cross on it. She was currently flourishing a staff with a red gem that Izuku thought was really cool.

He then realised what she had said.

"Wait one second, did you just call me the **_famed_** Artificer of Axel? People know of me outside of this town?" This girl had only been here for about 10 seconds, and already Izuku was feeling a bit overwhelmed.

"Of course! There are rumours spreading throughout the land! People talk of the newly dubbed Artificer with awe in their voice." Izuku grimaced. This girl was putting it on a little thick.

"Some say your charity knows no bounds, enchanting items for fellow adventurers for free, and others say your fighting ability is so incredible, you slew an evildoer that was several levels above your own!"

Izuku thought about it for a moment and… yea. Those were both _technically_ correct, so he had no real argument.

He just shrugged, sighing. "Is that why you're here? Do you want me to infuse your staff or your clothing? I don't mind."

She pouted at him for a brief moment, then flourished her staff, spinning it before slamming the end down on the floor again. "No! I have come to ask if I may join your party! As a mighty ArchWizard, I would be a great help to you!"

Izuku was shocked. This girl was an ArchWizard! "That's so cool! An ArchWizard! Aqua!" He turned to Aqua. "What do you think?!"

Aqua just gave the girl a once over. "What's your name?" Izuku mentally face-palmed. That was something he should have asked.

The girl looked shy for a second, before puffing her chest out again, and flourishing her staff again. Izuku looked over at Aqua, who was obviously trying to hold in her laughter, this girl was really into… whatever it was that she was doing.

"My name is Megumin! ArchWizard of the Crimson Demon clan! The Master of Explosions!" She finished by placing her hand weirdly over her face, partially obscuring her eye.

Izuku looked over at Aqua, who was in a losing battle with her laughter. It was obvious that she would be of no help in this conversation.

"Alright, Megumin! We will give you a trial run! We are currently on a quest to kill some Giant Toads, so come back here tomorrow, and we can- AH! Megumin! Are you OK?"

The reason he asked was because she had just fallen face-first onto the ground. She lifted her head and placed her chin on the ground, looking up at him. "I haven't eaten anything in 3 days…"

Izuku realised that the girl was probably really malnourished. He instantly called a waitress over and ordered a meal for her. What kind of hero would he be if he didn't?

* * *

Megumin hadn't arrived in Axel expecting much, to be honest.

She had come to seek out an adventurers party to quest with, hoping to prove to everyone that **|Explosion|** was the only spell she would ever need and that she _wasn't_ too young to be an adventurer.

So when she heard that the Artificer of Axel, a new adventurer who's Legacy Adventurer status was quickly spreading news throughout Belzerg, was only 14 years old, she knew she had to join his party.

She had never seen a Legacy Adventurer before. There were rumours that the King's daughter was one, but the only confirmed one was the Artificer of Axel. She had eventually tracked him and his party member down at the town Guildhall.

She honestly expected more out of him.

Who she **_thought_** she was going to meet was a mountain of a teenager, full of confidence and spirit and magical potential, flaunting his Legacy Adventurer status to anyone he talked to.

Who she **_actually_** met, was a timid, thin-looking teen that looked like he had never worked out a day in his life. The only thing she got right was his magical potential.

As an ArchWizard, she could feel the strings of magic in the air being drawn towards the boy, as if the world itself wanted to aid him in his creation of items.

It seemed that this Artificer, who introduced himself as Izuku Midoriya, was even more interesting than she thought he would be! She just **had** to be in his party!

He had given her a chance, and tomorrow, she would blow him away with her amazing explosion! No adventurer in their right mind could resist such a party member that could wield such a powerful spell!

But right now, she should focus on eating. The Artificer was kind and gave her sustenance! She must not squander it! She must have been putting on a weird face because the Artificer spoke up.

"Megumin? You alright there? You're staring at that toad meat really intensely." Izuku made sure to keep his voice down, not wanting to embarrass her in front of the other adventurers.

"Ah! Yes, I am and will be fine, Mr Artificer!" when she got a look from izuku that clearly showed he didn't believe her, she amped up her acting.

"If you must know! My latent magical power is so immense, it requires near-constant concentration to stop it from exploding out into reality! That is also why I wear this!"

She pointed to the eyepatch on her left eye. "This eyepatch seals my magical potential! If I were to ever take it off, a great catastrophe would befall this land!"

She stood and flourished her staff again, something that she had practised in the mirror for days on end (not that she would admit it to anyone) and placed her hand over her face.

She looked over to the Artificer expecting to see him looking impressed, but just saw a look of concern on his face. He tapped his chin while his other hand moved as if writing.

"If her powers are that volatile it might not be worth the power of the spell. Maybe I could infuse the eyepatch so it suppresses it even more, or maybe just stronger and harder to take off. Mumble Mumble Mumble Mumble Mumble Mumble"

Megumin was starting to panic now. The awesome backstory she wrote was going to get her sent away from the party! "Wait!"

Izuku's mumbling stopped, and he looked up at her. Aqua was just sitting beside Izuku watching Megumin, nodding every now and then as they talked.

"Please don't' send me away! I was making it up!-" She took off her eyepatch and handed it to Izuku. "-I just wear it cause it makes me look really cool…"

Izuku just stared at her for a second, before looking over to Aqua. Aqua just shrugged, obviously trying to hold her laughter in. Izuku placed the eyepatch down on the table gently and sighed.

"I'm not entirely sure why you lied to us, but now I have to ask. Is any of what you just said true? Are you actually an ArchWizard?" Megumin just nodded, looking down.

Izuku clicked his tongue. "Alright then! How about you show us your adventurer card. If you actually an ArchWizard, we can go ahead with your trial run tomorrow. If not, I'll have to ask you to leave us alone."

Megumin looked up at him in shock. He was still going to let her have her trial run!? All other parties she had tried to join would have sent her away by now.

She would not blow this chance!

* * *

Izuku had mixed feelings about Megumin.

While she seemed a bit odd, but Izuku wasn't someone that liked to judge people. They had checked her adventurer card, and she was in fact an actual ArchWizard.

Izuku was a man of his word, and the next day, they headed out to kill some more Toads. His adventurer card said they were about 40% done, with two out of the five frogs needed to complete the quest dead.

Izuku, Aqua and Megumin arrived at the top of a hill, overlooking the most common spot for Giant Toads to appear. They had to wait a while, So Izuku stuffed around with his abilities for a bit.

He was currently testing to see if he could enchant everyday objects with special abilities, or if he was limited to armour and weapons. To help him test this, he had bought various household items.

He had a water bottle, a candle, and an old woollen cloak that was given to him as a gift. No toads had appeared yet, so he grabbed the candle, lighting it with **|Fire Bolt|**.

Aqua saw what he was doing and turned to face him, watching intently. Megumin looked over every now and then, but she was really focused on the field in front of them.

"So, Izuku. What are you doing with that candle? You do realise it's like, noon, right?" Aqua asked, laying down and looked up at the sky.

Izuku placed the candle on the ground and tapped the wax, a scroll appearing in his hands. He turned to Aqua. "I'm just testing if I can infuse things than just combat gear."

He looked back down at the scroll. As he expected, the candle was just called **|Basic Wax Candle|**. But to his delight, it did actually have possible infusions!

They were only simple things, as he was still low level, but he could see their usefulness. Things like _Hotter Fire_, _Longer Burn Time, Brighter Fire_. They weren't anything flashy, just basic upgrades, but they made sense.

Or that was what he _would_ have thought, if not for the fact that the _Longer Burn Time_ upgrade had a small message saying that after Izuku got to Lvl 20 as an Artificer, it became _Indefinite Burn Time_. And this was just for a basic candle!

Choosing to not infuse anything on the candle right now he snuffed out the fire and put it back in his bag. He was about to move onto the next item when Megumin yelped.

"Artificer! We have toads incoming! Stand and watch my amazingly powerful **explosion!**" Izuku could see that Megumin was almost vibrating with excitement.

She held out her staff towards the toads, and a set of orange circles appeared around her. The sky darkened slightly, and she started chanting.

**"Darkness blacker than black and darker than dark, I beseech thee, combine with my deep crimson."**

Izuku and Aqua just watched as more and more circles appeared around her, and a line pointing at the toad erupted from her staff.

**"The time of awakening cometh. Justice, fallen upon the infallible boundary, appear now as an intangible distortions!"**

Izuku wasn't really sure if this over-the-top chant was necessary, but from how Aqua was laughing behind him, it probably wasn't.

**"I desire for my torrent of power a destructive force: a destructive force without equal! Return all creation to cinders, and come from the abyss!"**

He could feel it now, the heat in the air around her making him sweat as she neared the end of her spell. The orange rings were now around both her and the toads she was pointing at, and she smirked at Izuku.

**"Explosion!"**

**_[BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM]_**

* * *

Izuku looked on in shock as Megumin, a short, 13-year-old girl, outclassed every single one of Kachaans explosions.

He turned to Aqua, who had stopped laughing and was now staring at the **MASSIVE CRATER** that Megumin had left, with wide eyes.

He saw Megumin laughing maniacally as she hugged her staff, and the quest notification on his adventurer card went off, signalling its completion.

He was surprised then when Megumin collapsed to the floor.

"Megumin! Are you alright? Did you overuse your mana?" He asked, looking over at Aqua who… was laughing again. Great. _'Very helpful.'_

Megumin just sighed. "I always put my points into **|Explosion|**, not anything else, so this always happens after I cast it."

Izuku was gobsmacked. On the one hand, Megumin had just made a bigger explosion than even someone who's _whole power was explosions_. On the other hand, she could only do it once a day… _for now_.

He came to a decision. "Aqua! Megumin! I have decided!-" He turned to Megumin and smiled. "-as long as you promise to start putting some points into your mana reserves, I accept your request to join our party!"

Megumin just smiled and nodded at him, letting out small thank you's. "I would hug you if I could move right now!" Izuku face-palmed scurrying over to her.

"Of course, here, let me help you…" he hoisted her up and started giving her a piggyback. He wasn't the strongest, but she wasn't really that heavy.

As the 3 of them headed back to Axel, Izuku couldn't help but smile at the prospect of being able to use **|Explosion| **one day.

He turned to Aqua and beamed at her, and she gave him a smile back. Their party had been awesome when it was just the two of them, but after a little work, Megumin could be an incredible asset!

They passed through the city gates and started heading towards the guildhall to register Megumin to their party.

_He couldn't wait to do more Quests!_


	5. Darkness and Ogres and YunYun, oh my!

Izuku was fairly certain that Megumin had lied to him.

It had been 3 days since they had finished the frog quest, and even with Megumin levelling up from killing the 3 toads _(apparently she had been close to a level up already)_ and her insistence that she put the points towards her mana, not explosion, Izuku couldn't see any changes.

He sighed as he carried Megumin back to Axel. She had asked him to help her 'practise' with the spell every day, so when he woke up, he would drag her far away from Axel, to be considerate of the citizens, and let her use **|Explosion|** on an old, rundown castle on top of a nearby hill.

"Hey, Izuku? Thank you for this! I need to get an explosion out every day or I'll go insane!" She said, and Izuku sighed, knowing that if she could move, she would be doing an over-the-top flourish of her arms and staff.

"Really? Or is this one of the absurdly dramatic backstories I see you writing every night?" He laughed softly as he heard her sputter and tried to defend herself, but he tuned her out. He might have gotten a bit stronger while he had been in Axel, but it was still a bit of a struggle to carry her every day.

They arrived back in Axel, and Izuku smiled and nodded as they passed people in the street. Izuku had become something of a celebrity in Axel, and he wasn't really sure how to deal with that.

On the one hand, people liked him. People didn't just tolerate his existence, _people liked him_. Back in Japan, he would most likely either be ignored or abused for trying to be a hero, but in Belzerg, he was being actively encouraged to be one.

On the other hand, he really missed a few people from Japan. He wished he could have said goodbye to his mum, and even Kachaan's parents. He didn't know if Kachaan would _want_ a goodbye from him, but he still wished he could have given him one.

He was snapped out of his musing by a tap on the head. Megumin had regained enough energy to move her arms and had a worried expression on her face. "You alright Izuku? You've been standing in front of the guildhall doors for the last 5 minutes, spaced out."

Izuku yelped and shook his head, pushing open the door. He walked over to one of the tables in front of where Aqua was performing and placed Megumin down on one of the chairs. He smiled at her. "I'm fine. Just thinking about some people I left behind when I came here."

Megumin nodded, sort of understanding. She had left her family behind when she left her village. While it might be a normal occurrence for Crimson Demons, she still missed her parents sometimes. (Not that she would ever admit it!)

Izuku sat on the other side of the table and pulled out a small book. It was a blank leather-bound book, with a golden symbol of a rabbit's head on the cover. He didn't know why this one in particular stuck out to him, but something about the rabbit design just _felt right_ to him.

On the inside of the front cover sat his adventurer's card, as well as one of the 3 infusions he could place on the item. He had given the book an infusion called '_Increased Durability'_, a fairly self-explanatory name, and was eagerly awaiting the day when he would be a high enough level to add one called '_Summon and Dismiss'_.

It would allow him to summon and unsummon the book out of a small pocket of space at will, meaning he would never be without his journal ever again. Something he would have _killed for_ back in Japan if only to keep them safe from people like Kachaan.

He was currently on his 3rd idea for his 'artificer outfit'. He was sick of people asking him where he got his clothes from. It wasn't his fault that he died in his school uniform!

He was in the middle of drawing his ideas when he heard someone clear their throat behind him. He yelped and spun around to see a blonde woman with blue eyes, in bright yellow crusader armour. Izuku hadn't been in Belzerg long, but he could spot good quality armour which he attributed to his gift.

"Greetings, Ar…art... Artificer! It is good to meet you!" She said, and Izuku couldn't help but notice how flushed her face was while she stuttered, nor the way she fidgeted as she did so.

"Miss? Are you OK? Your face is really red, do you need to sit down?" He stood up and reached over to her, holding onto her shoulder. He didn't want a repeat of what Megumin did when they first met. He couldn't have more people face-planting from starvation.

He recoiled though when the second he placed his hand on her shoulder, she let out an extremely loud moan and shuddered. She looked at the ground for a moment as she squirmed, before looking back up at him and beaming.

"I knew it! The tales of your pure mind had to be false! Grabbing a lady the same minute you meet her, I knew that your fabled purity could only be an act!" She grabbed his arm and bounced up and down a few times.

"I must be a part of your party! A closet pervert like you would probably humiliate your teammates daily if given the chance! I must take their place and protect them from you!" Izuku took a step back from this lady… he didn't know her name. Damnit Izuku! You should have learned from the Megumin incident!

Izuku pried her from his arm and took another step away from her as she blushed and mumbled something about 'ripping himself roughly from her grip'. "Uh, pardon me Miss…" She just smiled at him _harder_, which was _somehow_ possible.

"My name is La- Darkness! I am a crusader, and I wish to join your Party, Artificer Izuku Midoriya! Tales of you have already spread to my home, and I knew that I must join with the newest Legacy Adventurer!"

Izuku nodded. "I got that bit, by why should I let you join our party? All you have done is show up, get all red in the face while calling me impure and a liar, and then demand to join our party. I had to ask for your name before you even introduced yourself."

She recoiled from him and gasped again, making Izuku slightly uncomfortable. But he knew better than anyone what it was like to be judged for something he couldn't control, so he tried to push it to the back of his mind.

"Such brutal criticism! I see now that I must prove myself to you! Come, artificer, grab a quest from the board, one with dangerous monsters and I will show you how useful I can be!"

Izuku looked over at Megumin, who just gave him a thumbs-up, and Aqua, who was finishing up entertaining the crowd and was too distracted to notice the conversation. He turned to Darkness and shrugged.

"Sure, why not? We gave Megumin a trial run, might as well let you have a go."

* * *

Aqua stepped down off of the table.

She had been performing for the last hour, and was starting to get tired. She gathered up the Eris that had been placed down in front of her table and counted it up. Today, she had gotten around 14 Eris just from performing party tricks.

She looked over and saw Megumin sitting on a bench, obviously suffering from Mana overuse with Izuku on the other side of the table being… shaken? She walked over to them and heard Izuku's last sentence.

"Sure, why not? We gave Megumin a trial run, might as well let you have a go." She sighed as she looked the newcomer up and down, before realising what her class was. She sat down next to Izuku and tried her best to look serious.

"Now, now Izuku, don't be hasty, shouldn't you introduce her to the rest of your party before offering her a spot?" Megumin piped up and said that she heard her introduction, and Aqua glared at her for a moment for undermining her statement.

"Oh, yeah of course, sorry Aqua! This is Darkness. She says that she's a crusader. And while I'm fairly new to this, I'm assuming that just means she's just a high-level knight or something like that?" He asked, smiling at her.

Darkness smiled, her blush returning as she heard him refer to her as '_just'_ a high-level knight. Aqua gave her a concerned look before turning back to Izuku and shrugged.

"That's basically right. Although, while knights and paladins are slow and heavy hitters, Crusaders specialise in taking a lot of damage and drawing the enemy towards themselves." Izuku's eyes lit up as she explained.

"Oh! Like a Tank! I might not know much about this stuff, but I've heard about Tanks! They take the damage while the other party members deal the damage!" Izuku's smile was infectious, leading to Aqua smiling back at him.

"Exactly! Now Darkness-" She stopped as she noticed the way that the crusader was squirming and muttering about them 'talking about her like she was a tool for their use'. She shook her head, facepalming. Of course, Izuku would get the weirdest people coming to him.

"Yo, Darkness!-" She was pulled out of whatever she was thinking and turned to Aqua, nodding with a gleam in her eyes. "Can we see your Adventurer Card?" Darkness just nodded again, handing it over.

Izuku's eyes widened as he scanned over her card, making Darkness feel a little proud of herself. He pointed at her card and looked up at Aqua, his eyes sparkling. "Aqua! She's got legendary defensive skills! I don't know if she can even be hurt by normal level monsters anymore!"

Darkness puffed her chest out in pride. It felt good having a legacy Adventurer praise her amazing abili- "But she has like, no offensive skills Izuku." At that, she dropped, sitting on the chair and pouting.

"Well, neither do you, _Archpriest_. It just so happens that I focused on protecting others rather than dealing damage." That was _one_ reason why, but she didn't want to just outright say the _main_ reason. (2 parties had already sent her away for doing exactly that.)

Izuku's eyes sparkled as he heard that. "Wow! To voluntarily focus on your ability to protect people better instead of your ability to fight back yourself. You're a real hero Darkness!" Aqua sighed as she realised he was going to go through with the trial run.

Darkness blushed at this, but not in her usual way, which really confused her. Why was a _compliment_ of all things making her like this? Was it because he was a Legacy Adventurer? This was very off-brand for her. Izuku stood up and walked over to the board.

He looked around the board for a bit before seemingly deciding on a quest to do. He grabbed the piece of paper and walked over to the table to see Megumin up and walking around it to sit next to Aqua. He waved his hand to the seat, and Darkness sat as well.

"I didn't want to do something too hard, as even with her amazing defensive capabilities, I don't want anyone to get hurt" He showed them the quest. Aqua immediately shook her head.

"Uh uh. No freaking way are we doing this one Izuku. Even with Darkness, are you trying to get us killed? We're like level 4!" She glared at the two others when they raised their hands, about to comment on how Megumin was level 13, and Darkness was level 12.

"I mean, you and I are level 4, but these two are much higher! And I mean, we can totally take out one mid-level ogre camp…"

"**Cmon Aqua, It'll be fun!"**

* * *

They could see the camp.

It was dusk, the setting sun giving the camp below them an orange glow, contrasting with the grey-skinned ogres. There were about 12 of them, all armed with clubs of various sizes.

Izuku deactivated **|Farsight|** and turned back to the group while his vision zoomed out. He turned to the group and grabbed a stick, drawing what he could see in the dirt.

"Ok, so it looks like there are 12 of them, with the largest wearing some sort of headgear, so I assume that's the camp's boss. Darkness will go in first and show off what she can do, with Aqua on standby for injuries. I'll cover her, and Megumin will be on the lookout for Ogres flanking us."

The girls nodded, and they started walking down towards the camp. Darkness pulled out her sword and shield as they neared the camp, Aqua readying a healing spell for her, just in case. She trusted Izuku and would trust his plan.

Hopefully, nothing would go terribly wrong.

Darkness reached the edge of the camp and started clanging her sword on her shield, causing the Ogre's to look over at her, before picking up their clubs.

Seeing as the clubs themselves were about as tall as she was, Izuku had a moment of panic as the first one swung at her, but that ended when Darkness didn't even move from the attack. She seemed oddly sad about that, which confused him. She pouted as she slammed her shield into another club coming her way.

"These Ogres are piss weak! You can easily take them out, Artificer!" She raised her sword as she ran further into the camp, using one of her crusader abilities called **|Taunt|** to gather up the Ogre's and have them attack her.

Megumin gave him a thumbs up, meaning that she had gotten them all, and Izuku walked into the camp, a **|Firebolt|** in each hand. He quickly released a small volley and noted that it took around three to four to take an Ogre down.

He had specifically chosen this quest because Ogres usually had high damage but fairly low health, meaning they could see how much Darkness could take, but also take out the enemies quickly in case of emergency.

He ducked under a club as one of the Ogre's broke free from Darkness' **|Taunt|** and charged him. Stepping away and getting some distance, he drew **|Dawn|** from its sheath and waited for the moment to strike.

Unfortunately, Izuku wasn't naturally good at fighting, like Kachaan, or All Might. He was a thinker, and while In a fight, that usually led to him getting a sense of tunnel vision on his opponent.

"_**IZUKU!"**_

While good for single enemies, like the Toads they fought, it was really bad to tunnel vision when in a crowd of enemies. He was about to run forward and slash at the Ogre when he heard Megumin's yell.

He turned his head just in time to get a club to the chest, definitely breaking most of his bones, as well as ripping up his shirt, and sending him flying into a tree a few feet away.

He heard Aqua's yelp as he made a giant **THUD** when he slammed into the tree. He could tell that he was starting to lose consciousness if the dark ring around his sight was any indication.

He vaguely heard Aqua yelling something to Megumin as she ran over to him and dragged him away from the campsite, and then a few seconds later, Darkness ran out-

**And the camp exploded.**

As Megumin collapsed Izuku could see that not a single Ogre was left standing, and all of the buildings had been razed to the ground, creating a large crater where the camp once was.

His vision was starting to fade to black, and he passed out, still in awe of the power that Megumin possessed. He knew that once she was able to cast **|Explosion|** multiple times, she would be a force to be reckoned with.

As his chest gave him another jab of pain, he realised that Megumin was probably not what he should be focusing on. He felt his eyes close, and he passed out.

* * *

He woke up in his room at the guildhall.

He tried to sit up, but the pain in his chest held him down for a few minutes. He eventually sat up and took stock of his condition. The last thing he could remember, he felt like most of his bones were broken, he most likely had a concussion, and he was bleeding a lot.

Now, while he was still sore and all bandaged up, he wasn't in any of the previous pain. He knew logically that healing magic existed, that was Aqua's whole schtick, but it still felt weird to break a bunch of bones and then be back to normal soon after.

He stretched out his arms and legs and found that while sore, he had his full range of movement, and it was painful. He stood up and saw that while he was still wearing his pants and shoes, his shirt was gone.

He awkwardly stumbled out of the room, leaning up against the wall while he got used to walking. His legs were still sore, but the movement was lessening the pain. He reached the stairs and headed down them, hearing the music and cheering.

He could see people drinking, a musician was over in the corner playing tunes on a lute while simultaneously flirting with a barmaid, and then he spotted his party.

Aqua was performing party tricks, obviously very drunk, Darkness was flat out unconscious on the table, and Megumin was inching her way towards one of Darkness' cups of ale. He noticed another girl that looked similar to Megumin staring at the group, hidden behind a pillar but pushed it from his mind as he walked over and sat down, startling the Crimson Demon.

"Ah! Izuku! You're OK! She poked Aqua and pointed at Izuku. "Aqua look! Izuku's awake and he came downstairs shirtless!" Aqua seemed to take a moment to understand what Megumin was saying, then her face lit up.

She jumped off the table, clumsily regained her balance, and crushed the boy in a hug. "**IIIZZZUUUKKKUUU! **You're OK! I was so worried when I heard you slam into that tree! I got you out of the way and told Megumin to explode the camp and then it all went **boom!** And then I healed you and then me and Darkness carried you back to Axel-"

Izuku just stared at her as she went on a 3-minute long rant about how worried she had been and how they had carried them back to town. _Was this what people felt like when he muttered?_

He put his hand on Aqua's shoulders, and she stopped talking. He tapped Darkness a few times on her shoulder and she woke up, still very groggy. "Darkness, do you already have a room at the guildhall?"

When the girl finally shook her head, Izuku sighed. He walked over to Luna, who was watching the festivities with a smile and purchased another futon for his room. He went back to the girls just in time to move an ale mug away from Megumin.

"Well we can't have you sleeping outside can we Darkness? Us party members have to stick together!" It took Darkness a little while to process that as he and Megumin led her and Aqua upstairs. But when she did, she crushed him in a hug and bounced up and down.

"Ah! Thank you, you scrawny little spellcaster! You will not regret adding me to your party Artificer Izuku!" She continued on like this for a little while longer.

They reached their room, and Izuku placed Aqua on one side of the proper bed, Megumin placing Darkness on the other side. He smiled to Megumin, said his goodnights, and moved to his futon.

He tapped his stomach, remembering that he was shirtless. Damn. Guess it was time to make that outfit he had designed.

* * *

Izuku stepped out of the tailors building, feeling proud.

He had just spent the last 5 hours making his outfit from almost scratch, and not to toot his own horn, but he thought that it turned out really well. It was no hero suit, but wearing his new outfit made him feel powerful.

He had a scabbard on his hip that allowed him easy access to **|Dawn|**, he had some high-quality leather boots, as well as some thick, brown woolen pants, a forest green woolen tunic with silk lining on the inside. He clenched his fist, admiring his leather gloves. He had a hardened leather band going diagonally across his chest, with a lightweight leather shoulder pad on his right shoulder.

He had been thinking about making himself some sort of metal helmet, as he didn't want to get his head hurt very often, but quickly found that he preferred lightweight armour over slow, heavy suits of full plate.

Instead, he went for something reminiscent of an aviator's hat that fighter pilots would wear during WW2. It was made of thick leather, which had been treated to allow for both flexibility and protection, and was lined with wool, helping with both keeping his head warm and adding more padding for his head.

He had also crafted himself some eye protection, as it would come in handy in both combat and crafting. He had searched through his mental library of blueprints for a while until he eventually came upon a set he liked.

They were a pair of snowboarding goggles, and the lenses had been the focus for most of the 5 hours he had spent making his outfit. It took him a full 3 hours to make them just right, allowing for them to be both clear and strong enough to be valid protection.

As he exited the building he was greeted by his party members. Darkness had forgotten about him letting her into the party the night before, as she had been very drunk at the time. Aqua had proven herself useful and had purified the alcohol out of their systems, eliminating their hangovers completely.

When Izuku arrived, Aqua let out an ear-piercing squeal, making everyone in the street give her a look of confusion and pain. "Wow, Izuku you look so much cooler now! Your other outfit was kinda lame, to be honest…"

Izuku just shrugged, smiling at the praise. Even simple compliments made him feel on top of the world. So what if he was starved for positive interactions? Sue him. "Thanks, Aqua! Although I didn't really have a choice with the old outfit, it was my school uniform."

Megumin and Darkness shared a look before Megumin bounced over to him. "She's right you know, you do look much more like an adventurer now that you're all geared up!"

She shuddered for a moment. "Maybe another time you could add a bit more armour though. I don't want a repeat of the Ogre camp incident…"

Izuku rubbed the back of his hat as he laughed sheepishly. "Maybe. I'll look into getting some better materials to make armour out of later, but this will be fine for now! Trust me, I don't want a repeat either. I honestly thought I was gonna die for a moment there."

He shook his head, dispelling the memories. He knew that repressing all the stuff that had happened to him wasn't healthy, but he was very well practised. Totally not able to backfire on him in the future. _Totally_.

As he finished clearing his head, he noticed a small flash of red to his right. He turned quickly and saw the girl from the previous night quickly duck behind the wall she had been spying on them from.

Izuku turned to his party members and pointed to the wall, placing a finger to his lips, asking them to stay quiet. He walked as silently as he could up to the wall and quickly rounded the corner.

The girl that had been hiding _screamed _as he appeared and fell over landing on her butt. Izuku put his hands up to show that he wasn't going to hurt her. "Hey there, I couldn't help but notice that you have been watching me and my party for a few days now… what's up with that?"

She seemed like she was about to answer when his party rounded the corner. Darkness had her sword out, Aqua's hands were shrouded in golden light, and Megumin was flourishing her staff like a club.

Izuku shook his head and asked them to stand down, before hearing Megumin groan and mumble; '_Goddamnit, thought it would be able to get away from this…'_

"What are you doing here YunYun?"

* * *

**AN: For those people who think that Aqua didn't get much Eris from her performing, i stated earlier that I would be using Eris as if they were equal to Australian dollars, to let me focus more on the story and less on the exchange rates. Basically Aqua earned $14 from busking for an hour. Sorry if that confused anyone!**

See you guys next chapter!


	6. Flying Cabbages? Seriously!

"This a friend of yours Megumin?"

Megumin just let out a huff as she crossed her arms, pouting. "No! She's not my friend, she's just some stupid girl who always follows me around claiming to be my rival!"

YunYun pouted at that as well, not wanting to just take the insults, but found herself looking at the floor instead. What did it matter what she said? Now that Megumin had given her explanation, the Artificer would probably just send her away.

But what she didn't notice was that Izuku recognized the look on her face. It was a look that he himself had on his face many a time over the years growing up. He set his mouth in a disapproving line and turned to Megumin.

Summoning a fly swatter with **|Summon Tool|**, he smacked her on the shoulder. "Hey! Don't be rude Megumin! You shouldn't talk about other people like that, even if you're upset with them! You should at least let her explain herself properly."

YunYun just stared at the pair as Megumin started pouting. No-one had ever stood up for her like that! The stories she had heard about the new Artificer's kindness were true!

Izuku crouched down and held out his hand to the girl, as she was still lying on the ground from when she fell over. She took his hand and he helped pull her up. "So, Megumin said your name was YunYun, right?"

She nodded as she reached her feet, still too anxious to reply to him properly. He just smiled at her softly. "So, from what Megumin said, and what I've seen, you've been following us around for the last few days. Why is that?"

She shifted around uncomfortably, looking over the group members. Aqua was looking bored, scanning the area around them, Megumin was just holding onto her shoulder as she pouted at Izuku, and the blonde crusader that she didn't know the name of seemed to be a little hot, as her face was fully red.

She took a deep breath to steady herself. The very fact that he hadn't sent her away immediately was a good sign in her book. Maybe she would actually be able to get her pitch off to him!

Standing up and bouncing on her feet as one hand covered her face, she spoke. "Greetings Artificer! My name is YunYun, and I am a mage of the Crimson Demon Clan! I have traveled to Axel from my hometown to request that I join your party!"

Izuku just nodded as he crossed his arms. "Yes, I pretty much guessed that was why you're here. I, personally, have no problems giving you a chance to prove yourself, but I will have to deliberate with my party first."

Megumin looked like she was about to speak up when Izuku glared at her for a moment, unfolding his arms. "How about you meet us back at the Guild Hall tonight, and we can talk about this further. Is that acceptable to you?"

YunYun was _beaming_ as she nodded frantically. The Artificer was willing to at least discuss giving her a chance! This was already going better than she had expected it to! She was a bit hurt by the annoyed expression Megumin had, but she had gotten used to feeling hurt by this point.

Scrambling out of sight, she rushed off to the room she had rented at the guildhall and jumped around in excitement for a few minutes before sitting down and starting to read. She had to wait until that night after all.

* * *

"Ok Megumin, spill it. What's your issue with that girl?"

Izuku and his party were outside of Axel, doing a simple fetch quest. Aqua had selected it after Izuku had tried to pick another kill quest, almost ripping the page out of his hands and thrusting the fetch quests into them instead.

Now, Izuku wasn't the best with knowing how others felt, unless it was anger or disgust, usually towards him, but even he could tell that the rest of his party were still a bit antsy about his recent injuries during Darkness' trial run.

He turned back to the group upon hearing Aqua's question. He had been waiting for Megumin to bring up the subject herself, but this would probably work just as well. Stopping in place and sitting down, he motioned for the rest of the party to sit as well, pulling some food out of his pack.

Megumin groaned as she sat down to Izuku's right. "Ugh, do we really have to talk about that right now? We grew up in the same village and used to be friends, then I learned explosion magic and went off to do my own thing, but now she follows me around and proclaims herself as my rival just cause I challenged her to a few duels for food as a kid!"

Izuku nearly winced at the similarities to him and Kachaan. They used to be friends, then one started using explosions and the friendship deteriorated to an almost completely one-sided relationship. Frowning, he shook his head to dispel such thoughts. Megumin was **not** as bad as Kachaan, not even close.

He laid down on the ground and looked over at her. "So why don't you just humor her? Why don't you just have the occasional duel? She really didn't seem as bad as you seem to make her out to be."

While he was talking, he was running his hand over goggles, pulling up the **|Infuse Magic Item|** scroll, just to read through the options. It was fairly basic stuff, but there was an option for different kinds of optics, like heat or night vision. He wrote those down in his notebook for future reference.

Darkness nodded, rolling her shoulders as she took the chest part of her armor off. "I agree with Izuku. Would it not be easier to duel with the girl occasionally, instead of antagonizing her?"

Megumin just huffed. "I guess it might be, but she's so annoying! Did you see her silly attempt at being dramatic earlier, with the hand over the face thing? Jojo references are so last year."

While Izuku had a minor existential crisis about the multiversal nature of Jojo references, Aqua spoke up. "You know, they actually reminded me of the stuff you did when you asked to join our party!"

Izuku chomped down on the sandwich he had brought with him while Megumin stopped herself from exploding Aqua, and instead just chased her around with her staff. He looked over to Darkness, who had an odd look on her face. Although, anything that wasn't flushed and panting was sort of odd for her.

He raised his eyebrow at her and she smiled at him. "You look like you're deep in thought there Izuku. You're thinking of letting that YunYun girl into the party if she successfully completes a trial run, aren't you?"

Izuku just hummed, nodding his head slightly. "I'm thinking about it, yea. She actually reminds me of myself a little bit. Before I arrived here in Axel, I was a nobody. Actually, I was less than a nobody. I didn't have any of the powers or special abilities that my peers had, and they tortured me for it."

He shrugged. "I doubt she went through the exact same thing, but I know someone who has been ostracised from others when I see one. I could see it in her eyes that she wants to be around others, she just doesn't know how to. If I can give her a group where she can feel comfortable and safe, I should."

'_That's what a hero would do.'_

* * *

They finished up the quest and headed back to town.

Luckily it had been a fairly basic quest. One of the blacksmiths in the area wanted some ore from a cave just outside of town, but had broken his foot, and was unable to get it. Izuku and Darkness had been the ones doing most of the mining.

Darkness had been hammering away at the mine near effortlessly for the full three hours they were down there and looked almost as good as new, while Izuku looked like death warmed up, red in the face, and absolutely drenched in sweat, unable to move his arms due to their soreness.

He knew that he was scrawny, his strength stat told him that every time he pulled out his adventurer card. Maybe he should try and get an exercise routine going? There were a bunch of absolute units in Axel, surely there would probably be one or two that wouldn't mind giving him some pointers.

It wasn't time for his party to meet with YunYun yet, so he found a quiet corner of the hall and hunkered down with his notebook. He was currently going over the designs for some upgraded outfits for his teammates. He was just as worried about their safety in the field as they were for his.

He wasn't much of a designer, but he had picked up a few things here and there during his rare visits to the Bakugou household. Mitsuki was a model and Masaru was a fashion designer after all.

He was just doing the finishing touches on some new designs for Megumin when someone knocked on the wall beside him. He jolted and slammed the book shut, yelping.

There was a giggle from behind him, but when he turned around, there was no-one there. He turned back around a few seconds later and yelped again when he saw a white-haired and scantily clad woman spinning a dagger on the other side of the table.

"Howdy, nice to meet ya. You're the Artificer right?"

Izuku just nodded as he used all of his willpower to stare at the girl's face. She just chuckled and leaned back in the chair, putting her dagger away. "Calm down. I'm just here because this is the first chance I had to get out of my stuffy realm! I just wanted to say thanks for saving Aqua. She may be a bit eccentric, but I'd like to think that she's my friend."

She started to slowly vanish in bursts of white light, winking at him. "Damn, I gotta go now. Before I do, I want you to have this, you guys are going to need all the luck you can get if you wanna beat the devil king."

As the girl vanished completely, Izuku changed his focus to the item she had chucked to him. It was a pocket watch with the symbol of Eris etched onto the side. Opening it up, he was shocked to see that it was only a pocket watch in aesthetics, as on the inside was a digital clock.

Closing it quickly, he used his **|Infuse Magic Item|** skill to find out the item's name. The scroll appeared in his hand and he quickly read through its contents. Apparently this item was called the **|Digital Pocket Watch of Luck|**. A fairly bland name, but he guessed it was accurate.

It was stated to give the user a boost to their luck while they had the item on their person, akin to a permanent boost from the **|Blessing|** spell. He thought about it for a moment, before pocketing (ha!) the watch. He didn't think that he was the one that needed a boost in luck the most, but he would hold onto it for now.

Looking out of the Guild Hall windows, he saw that the sky had darkened considerably since he sat down. He hadn't even realized that he had spent so long working on his designs. Hurrying over to where he could see Aqua's bright blue hair, he sat down.

Aqua slapped her palm on the table. "I'm just saying! If we used your **|Explosion|** spell to launch Darkness into the air, we could see if she could survive from super high up because of her defense stats! We already know she can survive the blast!"

Izuku immediately shook his head. "I only just got here and I'm already saying no. I don't care what her defense stats are. Physics are physics and no one can survive an impact at terminal velocity without rupturing your internal organs. I'm not going to let you kill Darkness for sport."

The group went silent and just stared at him for a moment before Aqua huffed and nodded, the others following her lead. Darkness was a little disappointed that such an appealing idea had been vetoed by the boy, but was touched by his concern for her. Which in her mind was odd.

They talked for a short while longer before Izuku spotted YunYun. He saw the way that people moved out of her way, like she was _meant_ to be avoided, and felt some anger flare up in his chest. He pushed it down as he waved her over.

As she started to walk over to them, he whispered to his party. "Alright guys, you remember what we discussed earlier in the mines? Megumin, you're going to play nice with YunYun, got it?"

Megumin nodded with a huff, crossing her arms and pouting. She would play nice. Izuku smiled at her thankfully as YunYun arrived. He stood up and bowed to her slightly. "Hello there. Please, have a seat."

She nodded and moved to Darkness right, placing the crusader in between her and Megumin. Izuku tried to ignore the mumble of '_using me as a human shield!'_ he could hear from Darkness.

The group was silent for a moment, save for the chewing noises from Aqua as she guzzled down some more food and drink. Then, Izuku spoke up to get the conversation rolling.

"Alright YunYun, we discussed it as a party, and we are willing, one of us reluctantly, to allow you to have a trial run for our party." YunYun looked like she was about to squeal, so Izuku held his hand up to stop her.

"But to even let this happen, I had to make a compromise with Megumin. She will be the one choosing the quest that we go on for you to prove yourself." He looked over at Megumin and nodded towards YunYun, signaling that it was her turn to talk.

"Hmph. I guess I should warn you about the intense danger that I will be putting you in, YunYun! Will your skills with the art of magic be enough to prove your worth?!"

Izuku summoned the flyswatter again as Megumin went off-script, and she let out a small 'eep'. Pouting she lowered herself in her seat. "Fine. YunYun, if you do good in the trial run, I will stop complaining and allow you to join the party hassle-free, alright?"

Izuku knew that he wasn't going to be able to stop the squeal this time, but he wasn't expecting YunYun to also jump across the table and slam into him, wrapping him in a hug. "Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! I won't disappoint either of you! I will show you that I deserve to be a member of your party!"

Megumin just huffed and stood up, picking up her staff and moving towards the staircase. "Now that this is all done and dusted, I'm going to bed. See you in the morning guys. Goodnight YunYun."

Izuku squirmed out of the hug and pulled a piece of paper out of his pocket and handed it to YunYun. "This is our room number, and where to meet us tomorrow morning. If we aren't at the meeting place, see if we are still in our room. We'll see you tomorrow, alright?"

YunYun nodded and sprinted off, smiling so wide it looked like she was splitting her face.

And while he still found it odd that someone wanted to be around him (he was getting better, just slowly), seeing someone so happy gave Izuku no choice but to smile.

* * *

_Deep in an underground bunker, the universe was cracking._

_The flow of time had been altered, something that should have happened now being prevented from happening due to an unknown anomaly. Normally, removing one person from the timeline wouldn't amount to much, but apparently this "Izuku Midoriya" would have been a __**very **__influential person later in his life._

_So many other timelines intersected with his, but not as much as the little girl's that lay in front of him. She seemed to be taking it the worse. Her time-based Quirk seemed to make her more attuned to the fluctuations of the timeline around her, causing sickness and nausea._

_Janus, the god of time, knew what this girl was. She was an anchor. A person whose existence and personal timeline would change the much larger equation of the world. Skipping forward and following the strings of fate, Janus discovered what her captors had been planning with her, and how Izuku Midoriya influenced her fate._

_He knew that if he didn't find a way to stabilize the timeline, this entire area could become uninhabitable, and then it would be his ass on the chopping block when the big guy discovers his blunder._

'_So if Izuku Midoriya doesn't rescue Eri when he does, then too many heroes lose their Quirks due to the bullets to be a viable fighting force anymore, leading to a massive villainous uprising.'_

_Janus floated in the void outside time, thinking of a solution. The timeline would stabilize if the Yaluza's ability to make the Quirk stopping bullets were removed._

_As an idea hit him on how to fix this issue, he warped himself back into his realm and pulled up a whiteboard, and started some calculations of exactly when he needed to act to fix the issue._

_If this worked, he would probably get rewarded for his ingenious thinking!_

* * *

Megumin has chosen what YunYun would have to do to prove her worth to the party.

And Izuku really couldn't believe what it was.

Apparently, today was a day that there would be a swarm of _flying, sentient cabbages_ that would attack the town, and the adventurers would try to kill a whole bunch of them because of how valuable they were to the town.

Megumin had challenged YunYun to kill enough cabbages to earn the party a whopping **10,000 Eris**. Izuku had asked Luna about how many cabbages YunYun would have to kill to get that much, he had been told that she would have to get at least **a hundred** cabbages by herself.

Izuku didn't even know if that was possible for her to do. He knew that YunYun was an archwizard like Megumin, but he hoped that she wasn't as… _focused_, on one type of magic as Megumin was.

YunYun looked nervous as the group approached the city wall. Izuku had suggested that they get there early so that she could get some of the faster _cabbages_ first.

He nodded to her, flashing her a smile. She blushed and gave a shy smile back, before going back to taking deep breaths with her eyes closed. Izuku activated **|Farsight|** and checked the horizon.

As the old saying goes: seeing is believing. Izuku hadn't truly believed in the whole 'living cabbages' thing until then. But as the ability activated and his vision zoomed-in, he saw them.

What looked like a thousand green orbs were flying towards Axel at breakneck speeds. He leaned over and tapped YunYun on the shoulder. "YunYun! We have incoming! They're just exiting the treeline!"

Yelping, YunYun quickly got into a battle stance, her feet planted and her body sideways to the cabbages. As she did, Izuku heard the siren that meant other adventurers were being notified of the swarm going off.

Light gathered around YunYun's hands as she pooled her mana in her spell. Holding them up to the oncoming swarm, which she could just barely see normally at this point, a beam of light connected her palms together, before she threw her arms forward and yelled **|Light of Saber|**!

Izuku watched in awe as the volley of attacks headed towards the swarm of cabbages, cutting through the first few before detonating in a blast of light. Izuku, who was holding YunYun's adventurer card to keep track of her progress, saw that she had gotten seven with just that first volley. And she was nowhere near done yet.

As adventurers started trickling out through the gates now that the swarm was closer, YunYun started throwing more and more 'Light of Saber' spells. Izuku glanced over at Megumin, who was sitting with Aqua and Darkness, watching YunYun fight.

A few of the cabbages were picked off by other spell casters and archers, and Izuku could even see one guy grabbing them out of the air with a spell and placing them in baskets. Izuku idly wondered if he would get paid more, as his cabbages weren't damaged.

"**|Wind Wall!|**" His focus was shifted back to YunYun as she thrust her arms forward, and the air in front of the group started blowing away from them, pushing back some of the faster cabbages that had already reached them.

It was chaos at this point. Everywhere that Izuku looked, adventurers of every class and level were running around like headless chickens, firing off spells and abilities willy-nilly. Some were even hitting allies!

As YunYun's **|Wind Wall|** spell ended, a few cabbages, seemed to get through her attacks, one of them slamming into her leg, sending her sprawling to the ground. With the break in her attacks, a few more cabbages moved towards her quickly, seemingly aiming for her head and chest.

She had just pushed herself into a sitting position and shaken her head when she opened her eyes to see the incoming cabbages, and screamed, raising her hands above her face. She huddled up into a ball, hoping that it would make it hurt less.

Then she heard the unsheathing of a sword, and Izuku yelling "**|Powered|**!". There was a swish of the air above her head, and when she opened her eyes, she saw Izuku standing in front of her, cabbages at his feet cleaved in half, and an outstretched hand to help her up.

"Hey, are you -AH- alright? These -AH- things are going really fast. You're not -AH- hurt are you?" YunYun was pulled out of her staring at the boy, one of the first people to help her without planning on getting something in return, but his cries of discomfort.

She grabbed his hand and hurried to her feet, nodding to him while quickly casting another **|Wind Wall|** behind Izuku. He sighed and rolled his shoulder, a bruise already forming underneath his shirt where a particularly solid cabbage smacked into him.

Letting Izuku sit down behind her, YunYun turned to the still incoming swarm with anger showing on her face. These cabbages had hurt someone who was willing to be friends with her! Someone who was willing to get injured to protect her! There was no other possible punishment but death for the cabbages!

Izuku watched for the next few minutes as more advanced magic than he had ever seen before was thrown out at the swarm with amazing speed. He watched as the counter ticked up more and more. And when YunYun ended her rapid attacks by shooting out black and red lightning that chained from cabbage to cabbage, pushing her just over the hundred mark, he stood and cheered for her.

After the swarm was defeated, YunYun was made an official member of the party.

* * *

Izuku was really surprised at how valuable the cabbages were.

When YunYun handed him the bag full of Eris, it almost dragged his hand to the ground with how full it was. He heaved it onto the table and tied up the top tightly, keeping it away from Aqua, who was staring at it with sparkling eyes.

Using the three-hundred Eris he had gotten from killing the cabbages when he saved YunYun, Izuku bought everyone a round of dinner and drinks (water for Aqua, fruit juice for everyone else). Standing up with one foot on the chair, he raised his glass towards YunYun.

"To YunYun! Archwizard of the Crimson Demon clan and the newest member of our party!" He got a few cheers from the other groups around his table, and all of his party but Megumin cheered loudly. Megumin just let out a small '_woo'_.

They sat and ate and talked for about an hour before YunYun started getting sleepy. She had used a lot of mana today, and while she was a Crimson Demon, even they could run out of mana. She got up groggily and walked upstairs, heading to sleep. A few minutes later, Megumin followed her up to the room.

It was right before Izuku was about to go to bed as well when the door to the Guild Hall opened up again, showing a very tall elf with bright red hair. He looked around the room before spotting Izuku. He walked over to the boy.

"Mister Artificer! Glad I could catch you before you retired to your room. I finished the model you requested! It is in my shop awaiting you. You may come now, or I can store it for you for tomorrow morning!

Izuku shook his head. "No, it will be better if I test it now. If I don't I'll just end up not being able to sleep from excitement." He put the roasted toad leg back down onto his plate and stood up. "Alright you two, I'll see you in the morning, just going to test one of my skills."

Aqua bolted up and stood next to him, shaking her head. Darkness got up as well. "You can't tease us like that! I wanna see what you're doing! And who is this man?"

Izuku shrugged, not really minding if they tagged along. The elf walked forward and gave them a small bow, flourishing his arm behind his back. "My name is Nevarth Zylric. I am a craftsman that focuses on the beautiful art of pottery."

Aqua gave the guy a blank look, before glancing at Darkness, who looked as confused as she was. Was everyone in this world an overly-dramatic fool?

Izuku was already out the doorway and heard towards Neverth's shop with the elf in tow. He seemed excited about this, so it was either really cool or really nerdy. They arrived at Neverth's shop and entered, and Aqua froze, mouth agape.

Standing there, in the center of the room, was a ceramic statue of the one, the only, All Might, in full painted colors for the outfit and everything. Izuku was staring at it in awe, but Aqua just hit the ground as laughter overtook her.

"_**PPFFFFTT! **_I knew you were a fanboy Izuku but seriously? Lemme guess, your gonna turn it into some super-powered magic fighting robot, aren't you?" Aqua was on her knees slamming her fist into the ground, while Darkness and Neverth just looked confused.

Darkness went over and knocked on the statue, noting that it wasn't hollow, the sound the rang out akin to a completely solid object. "Um, Izuku, who is this man that you commissioned a statue of? He must be of great importance to you."

Izuku blushed and rubbed the back of his head, nodding. "Uh, well, yea. He's a really powerful hero from my homeland. His punches are strong enough to level cities if he wanted to! I just wanted to see if I could, I dunno, honor him?"

As Izuku placed his hand on the statues, a scroll appeared in his other hand. Aqua and Darkness seemed to realize what he was about to do, their eyes widening. Izuku looked at the scroll and smiled at its content.

Summoning a pen, he started writing.

* * *

**Porcelain Statue **

**[All Might]**

**[Quality: A]**

**You are about to use the skill |Create Golem|. This skill allows you to animate objects to perform a variety of tasks to the best of their abilities. Stronger materials will be available to be turned into Golems at higher levels.**

**Golems will follow Voice Commands of all registered owners. These include:**

** The creator  
The creator's party members**

** And any individuals the creator gives access to**

**Golems can also be programmed with a basic personality, which can be based on a person, living or dead. The Golem will have no memories, but can be programmed to act like the creator expects another person to.**

**Do you wish to add any programming to this Golem?**

**[Y/N]**


	7. Calm before the Storm

"Oi, watch where you put your feet!"

"I'm sorry!"

Megumin huffed as she pushed YunYun's foot away from her stomach and turned over to face away from her. They were in their party's room, lying feet to face on the bed. "Forget about it. Just go to sleep and don't kick me again, ok?"

"I won't…"

Megumin sighed happily at the quiet. It stayed like that for a short while, silence dominating the room, apart from the noise from downstairs the creaking of the Guild Building. Then the silence was shattered again.

"Hey, Megumin?"

Megumin groaned and rolled back over, hesitating as she saw the weird look on YunYun's face. The girl was exhausted, and it showed. Honestly, Megumin couldn't believe that she was still awake.

"What do you want?"

YunYun frowned slightly, her tired eyes looking incredibly sad. "Do you really not like me? I thought we were going to be rivals, like the great heroes of legends... I wanted to be one with you… "

Megumin's heart jumped into her throat. What a question. Did Megumin even have an actual answer to that? She knew that YunYun would never have been confident to just outright say something like that when she was fully awake. Maybe she could just ignore it and pretend she fell asleep?

She caught YunYun's eyes and knew that she couldn't just ignore this. Sighing, she sat up and looked over at the girl for a few moments. She looked so… sad. Megumin knew that YunYun didn't have many friends, but did her not liking the girl really have that big an effect on her?

She didn't even really 'not like her'. It was more that she was just mildly annoyed by the constant challenges to a duel that YunYun made, and the fact that her boobs were bigger, and that Izuku had seemed more impressed with her magic than Megumin's…

But, wasn't she the one that started challenging her to duels? Every day when they were kids, duel after duel so that she could eat? And it wasn't really YunYun's fault that her boobs were bigger, Megumin knew that, and Izuku probably just liked the variety of spells that YunYun cast without collapsing…

She sighed. "YunYun?"

The girl perked up slightly, but Megumin could tell that she was incredibly groggy, still. "Yes, Megumin?"

Megumin looked down. "I don't… not like you. You're fine, you just annoy me sometimes. I'm really sorry if I ever made it seem like I actually hated you or anything like that… I guess."

She had scrunched her eyes up at that, not knowing what YunYun's reaction would be to that. She hoped she wasn't angry with her or something. Although she would kinda deserve it.

She heard a soft sob come from YunYun and opened her eyes quickly to see YunYun lying on her back, asleep, a relieved smile on her face. Megumin wiped her face at the sight, wiping off… the drop of water that leaked down from the roof! That was it!

She definitely wasn't crying as well! And anyone that said otherwise had a free ticket to explosion town. She was about to speak again when she realized that YunYun was finally out of it, snoring softly.

Turning over, she pulled the covers up around her and drifted off to sleep.

* * *

"I AM HERE"

"I AM HERE"

"I AM HERE"

"I AM HERE"

"I AM HERE"

"I AM HERE"

"I AM HERE"

"I AM HERE"

" Izuku! Turn him off! Please!"

Izuku ducked under the arm made out of clay as Golem-Might swiped at him, yelping as he dragged Aqua out of the way of the other arm flying at her head. "I don't know why he's doing this! I only showed him my memories of him being a hero!"

Aqua looked confused as well. "Then why has he gone all Frankenstein's monster on us!?"

Izuku, panicking, just shrugged, pulling Darkness out of the way of one of the Golem's fists. She seemed kinda upset about that, something he didn't really understand. "You two get out of here! I'll try and turn him off!"

Aqua nodded and sprinted right for the door, knocking over Nevarth as she barreled through it. Izuku dodged to the side as Golem-Might broke the table he was hiding behind, his smile never fading.

"I AM HERE!"

Izuku flinched and scrunched his eyes up as another fist almost hit him, but froze in surprise when it was stopped, a sharp crack hitting his ears. He opened his eyes to see Darkness standing in front of him, breathing heavily.

"You pack quite a punch, Mr. All Might sir! A pity you can't keep up with my durability; you would have been an excellent sparing partner!"

Izuku saw what Darkness was referring to: a large crack spreading up Golem-Might's arm. It creaked again and Izuku saw the middle finger from the hand that hit Darkness fall to the ground, shattering on impact.

Izuku's eyes widened. "Darkness! I totally forgot that he's made of ceramic! Just let him punch you and he should break himself!"

Darkness nodded, letting out a joyous cackle as she spread her arms wide, allowing Golem-Might to attempt to attack her without resistance. "Of course! Pummel me, you magnificent creation! Pummel me until you break!"

Izuku gave her an odd look as she did so, only making her squirm more, a hot blush coming onto her face. She knew that this boy had darkness (hah) hidden within him! Telling her to use her body as a shield and then judging her for doing so! What contradictory actions! She loved it!

She shuddered as the stump of Golem-Might's arm crashed into her chest again, the hand long since shattered, and promptly collapsed in on itself. That seemed to be the final straw, cracks spreading all over the Golem until it let out a large 'CRACK' , the multitude of pieces falling to the floor.

Darkness shivered as the attacks stopped, breathing deeply, her face flushed red. She stood there for a moment, staring down at the pile of ceramic pieces, then laughed. Turning to Izuku, who was dusting himself off, she sprinted over to him and grabbed the boy by the shoulders.

"You must make another! That was exhilarating!"

Izuku just looked at her weirdly and pried himself from her grasp. "Why would I do that? Obviously, it didn't work as I intended! I'm going to have to figure out what went wrong before I try again."

Darkness hummed. That wasn't an 'I'll never make one again', but it did mean she would have to wait. "Well, I hope you are quick in your investigation! A brute that will pummel me relentlessly until he falls apart, with no worries about my safety or their own… truly you have created a masterpiece!"

Izuku shook his head. "Look, Darkness, whatever this whole… 'thing' is, I need you to tone it down, OK? At least in public. I know that you enjoy fighting, but you make it sound like you're obsessed or something."

Izuku turned away from the girl and moved over to the broken Golem, picking up a piece and thinking. Why would a Golem infused with All Might's memories start attacking people at random?

Wait a second… it wasn't All Might's memories that Izuku was implanting into the Golem. It was his own memories about what All Might would do in these situations. And all of the memories of All Might that Izuku inserted into the Golem was him saying his catchphrase and fighting villains.

So basically saying "I AM HERE" over and over again and punching people. Well. That explained a lot.

No wonder he went crazy.

* * *

The next morning was much quieter than the one before.

Seeing as they didn't have to be up absurdly early to prepare for an attack on the town by a swarm of wild, flying cabbages, which Izuku still had trouble believing were real, no matter if he had fought them or not, they all got to sleep in a bit.

Or at least, the girls got to sleep in a bit. Izuku was in the habit of rising early to prepare for school and tend to any lasting injuries before his mum woke up. Which, while tragic and definitely something he'd have to talk to with a therapist about one day, meant that he always had extra time in the morning.

And now that he didn't have to tend to any injuries (thanks Aqua!), he was able to spend even more time learning about Belzerg, and the magic that he now possessed! It was wacky and crazy, and he loved every second of it.

Except maybe that bit where Golem-Might V1 almost caved his skull in. Or that time when the Ogre almost killed him by caving his skull in. Or when Durza threatened to do horrible things to his first proper friend in this world.

Ok, so there were up and downs. A magical rollercoaster of adventures. But hey! He was still alive, his friends were OK, and he was getting better with his magic every day! His practice with |Dawn| was going well too!

He wasn't going to be winning any swordmaster trophies anytime soon, at least not without a teacher, but his skills with a sword were workable. Especially when he used |Powered| to make up for the lack of physical strength he still had to worry about.

Maybe he should start drafting up a proper exercise plan soon? Dempton would probably hook him up! He might have to pay the man for it though, or enchant another piece of his gear.

He hummed to himself as he pulled out his adventurer card.

* * *

Izuku Midoriya: Artificer of Axel, The Shadeslayer

LVL 6 - Artificer

Skill Points Remaining: 28

Attribute Points Remaining: 6

Strength: 13

Dexterity: 45

Endurance: 50

Intelligence: ?

Wisdom: 25

Charisma: 30

Luck: 20

Abilities: Natural Craftsman, Infuse Magic Item, Create Golem,

Spells: Skill Bind, Firebolt, Summon Tool, Farsight, Powered, Reflect

Magic Items: Digital Pocket Watch of Luck

* * *

His biggest issue right now was strength.

Even with his magic, his body still seemed to charge right into battle with a sword drawn long before his mind could play catch-up and ground himself. He would either have to become a bigger threat in melee range, or break that habit if he wanted to live past his 15th birthday.

He looked over at Aqua as the girl mumbled something in her sleep, something about Demons. He didn't catch what it was she said exactly, but she seemed very worried about Demons in her dream.

She fell silent a few moments later, clutching onto an empty glass bottle like a teddy bear. Izuku shook his head at that, wondering how such a young goddess could be so addicted to booze already. Izuku hadn't even seen booze before coming to Belzerg!

Darkness was sleeping soundly, her armour shed in favour of her plain black jumpsuit. She still had her sword next to her bedroll, but he knew that as she was now, she probably wasn't going to be hitting anything (or anyone, more specifically).

Maybe he could enchant her sword for better accuracy until he was able to make her put some points into swordsmanship? Or maybe he could just practice with her in swordplay. He was getting better without putting skill points into it, why couldn't she? Something for him to think about later.

Megumin and YunYun were still fast asleep as well. They had taken the bed, which Izuku was fine with. He was glad that no-one had claimed it for themselves. Instead, the two girls shared it.

He hoped that they could find a way to work together in his party. He wanted both of them to stick around, so he hoped they could patch up their relationship enough to work together. He knew how bad a one-sided relationship could feel, and he wouldn't wish that on anyone else.

Shaking his head, he tore himself out of his ruminations. He had stuff he wanted to do this morning, or at least research how to do, before he had to take Megumin out to let off an explosion.

He stood up and tip-toed out of the room, re-locking the door after he left. He headed downstairs to the foyer to see Luna already up and wiping down a table.

She gave him a sly smile as he entered her line of sight. "Ah, Midoriya! What brings you down here so early? After your party's success yesterday I expected you and your girls to be, uh... incapacitated for the majority of today."

Izuku just shook his head silently, before he realized what she had meant by 'his girls'. "Wait! That's not what we're like! They're my friends and party members! I've only known most of them for a few weeks, maybe a month! I'd never do something like that so quickly!"

Luna just laughed. "I know, I know, you must forgive a girl for wanting to get some teasing in! I will say though, there are quite a few people who seem to think that you're building some ultimate battle-harem."

Izuku's face went bright red as he sputtered, waving his hands in front of him, shaking his head. "WHAT?! That's insane! I would never try and disrespect any of my friends like that!"

Luna raised her eyebrow at him. "Disrespect? What are you talking about? It's very common for powerful and famous heroes like yourself to participate in polyamory. In fact, the last Artificer we had in Belzerg was rumored to have more girls by his side than Axel has in its entirety."

Izuku froze at that, trying to wrap his head around that thought. There were at least 1500 people in Axel! And just over half were women! How could one man be with almost 800 people?!

He bowed to Luna, shaking a bit. "Thank you for the warning, I have to go now!"

Luna gave him a confused look as he sprinted out of the guildhall at top speed, steam shooting from his ears, his face redder than a tomato. She hummed to herself.

"What a strange boy."

* * *

Izuku gulped in air as he finished his run.

He had decided to start with working on his cardio before moving on to building muscle, and he thought that going for a run around Axel's walls was a pretty good start. The exercise also helped him clear his head from what Luna told him about.

While he trusted his party, he did have to admit that he didn't really know most of them well on a personal level. Definitely not enough to do… thatwith them! And definitely not all of them! Sure they were all very pretty, but Izuku didn't want to creep them out!

Whatever. He didn't want to think about it right now. His legs burned, his lungs were screaming at him, and his feet were throbbing. AND he still had to take Megumin out for her daily explosion!

Man, if he kept this up he would be running marathons in no time flat.

He arrived at the guildhall to see a rowdy crowd of adventurers already chowing down on breakfast and (probably) alcohol, preparing themselves for a day doing quests. Izuku noticed the bright blue hair of Aqua seated on the other side of the room and smiled, glad that he didn't have to climb the stairs and wake the girls up.

He headed over to the quest board and hummed to himself as he looked through his options. There were less than usual, but still a fairly good selection. He hadn't eaten before running, so he made sure to order a small plate of food when a barmaid passed him, then he sat down to read the quest papers.

There were a few good ones, including one to clear a lake of pollution, which Aqua could probably do fairly easily with enough protection. There was also one to hunt a pack of Goblins! That seemed simple enough!

Taking the piece of paper off of the board, he rushed over to Luna to accept the quest, before heading over to his party to tell them.

He noticed that Megumin and YunYun seemed to be treating each other better. Megumin didn't even steal anything from YunYun's plate today! Maybe YunYun joining the party would be good for their relationship? Izuku was glad that he could help if that was the case.

Darkness noticed his approach first and smiled. "Ah! Izuku! I see you have brought us a quest to do this morning! What is it that we shall be fighting today? A black fang? A white wolf? Maybe a One-Punch-Bear?"

Izuku shook his head. "Nothing like that sorry, still trying to recover mentally from being thrown around by that Ogre. I'd prefer to do… less stressful quests until I feel a bit more confident in my abilities."

Darkness froze as he mentioned the Ogre, before nodding. Izuku could see Aqua and Megumin shiver uncomfortably in the edge of his sight, and YunYun looking confused. He would explain to her later.

Darkness rubbed her arm, looking down. "I, uh, of course. I could see why you would want to take it easy. As boring as that may be, I will not complain about you getting stronger! What shall we be fighting then?"

Izuku plopped the piece of paper onto the table, smiling. "Something important, but fairly easy for a party of our quality! There's a large group of goblins that have set up camp on the crossroads half a day's travel from Axel that have been ambushing traveling merchants."

Megumin puffed out her cheeks. "But before we go save a bunch of rich, stuck up scam artists, you're going to help me do my daily explosion, right?"

Izuku nodded. "Of course I will! I was just telling you what we were going to be doing this afternoon so you guys can prepare! I have some stuff I need to do after me and Megumin get back anyway, so you all have plenty of time. But we do leave tonight!"

After getting nods of acknowledgment, he waved his hand to Megumin. "Alright then! Lets get this over and done with."

Megumin jumped to her feet and followed after him, spinning her staff over her head as she did so.

* * *

One massive explosion later, and Izuku and Megumin were on their way back to Axel.

Izuku rolled his shoulders as he looked over to the girl, smiling at the content look on her face. She was currently being carried by a small, amorphous golem made of mud and rock. It might sound disgusting, but she was basically being carried on a flat surface by a Golem that could act like a car's suspension and keep her flat no matter the bumps and dips in the road.

Izuku honestly couldn't believe he hadn't thought of this before! Now he didn't have to carry her every day! He'd named the Golem 'Hakobu'. It was simple, but it made sense. Plus, no-one here knew Japanese but him and Aqua, so they'd just think it was a cool-sounding name.

Definitely not just a lazy way of explaining what the Golem did. Definitely not.

"Hey, Izuku? Darkness told me about how the Golem you made last night went crazy and tried to kill you. This one isn't going to like, suffocate me or something? Because it's all gooey and made of mud and I'm still all floppy from using |Explosion| !"

Izuku shook his head. "Nope, this one is totally safe. A mindless drone meant only to carry you and follow my orders. It's basically just a homemade Slime with a platform on the top. Hope you like Hakobu, cause he's going to be carrying you back from now on. No more piggybacks for me."

Megumin pouted, and sighed. "He's alright, but the rock platform is a bit uncomfortable. Is he only able to have the rock or can I give him like a pillow on a plank of wood for me to lie on?"

Izuku shrugged. "Not really sure, to be honest. You can always try it and see if it works. You're able to give Hakobu orders as well because you're in my party so he'll listen to you. Just don't make him fight anything alright? He will most definitely lose."

Megumin nodded. "Gotcha. No fighting for the Mud Machine Hakobu!"

There was silence for a little bit as he and Hakobu moved towards Axel. Megumin was always pretty drowsy after using |Explosion| , so she was happy to take a quick nap as they travelled back to Axel.

They reached the front gate, so Izuku made Hakobu stop, then softly shook Megumin awake. "Megumin? I'm going to be outside the city walls until we have to leave for the Goblin camp. You guys get ready tonight and I'll meet you here at sundown."

Megumin rubbed the sleep out of her eye, yawning. "What will you be doing all day? You got some artificer-y thing you want to keep secret from us or something?"

Izuku chuckled. "Something like that, actually. It's a surprise that I'll be working on for a bit. Trust me, you'll like it!"

He gave Hakobu a mental command to find the other girls, and watched for a moment as the Golem and the Mage moved into town, before turning and heading out towards the forest, pulling his journal out and flipping to a page covered in math's equations.

This project would take a lot of work, but by the end of it, it should help cut their costs by a lot, and make his party happy. And to make his friends happy, he'd do almost anything! He collected a few large rocks and put them in a pile, before using |Create Golem| on the stack.

They rose from the ground to form a vaguely humanoid shape, and stood tall above Izuku's head. Nodding to himself, he used |Summon Tool| to summon a large woodcutting axe, and handed it to the golem.

"Alright dude, we're going to need a lot of wood for this project, so could you start chopping some tree's down for me please? Cheers. Once I've rested for a bit I'll make another Golem to help you."

The Golem, of course, said nothing in return, and instead started moving towards some of the larger trees and started to slam the axe-head into the side. This project would save them massive amounts of gold in the future, so it was definitely worth it!

As the first tree fell, Izuku smiled to himself. He might have to cut down a bunch of trees, and make many more Golems, but dammit, he was the Artificer of Axel now!

And he was going to build his party the best goddamn house he could!

Hope you enjoyed this! Check out my profile for all of my fics and one-shots! And follow me on Twitter for updates about all of that stuff! /Logar49015351 And join my discord! Not many peeps yet, but it's fairly new.  
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